


It's You & Me

by AvengersCompound (emilyevanston)



Category: Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Anal Sex, Blood, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, Light Dom/sub, Marvel 616/MCU Crossover, Minor Injuries, Oral Sex, Pegging, Romance, Single Parents, Smut, Snakes, Step-parents, Vaginal Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:34:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 28,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27696353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emilyevanston/pseuds/AvengersCompound
Summary: You and Clint Barton go way back.  Since you joined the circus as a child, he took it upon himself to keep you away from the people who really wanted to hurt you.  For years the two of you danced a line between dark and light.When he chooses light the two of you go your separate ways.Fifteen years later he tracks you down.  Those feelings the two of you shared never went away, but now he is not only an Avengers but a single father.  Can the two of you make it work after all this time when your lives have gone in such different directions?A series told in flashbacks and current day.
Relationships: Clint Barton/Reader
Comments: 52
Kudos: 72





	1. Now

**Author's Note:**

> Clint is a mixed MCU/616 Clint leaning heavily into the 616 stuff. I killed Laura (Sorry Laura - but hey, one less time than Marvel’s done it) for plot reasons. All the most triggering stuff in this fic is only mentioned and not explicit, and is not romanticised. They are however something that is done to the reader character. Please be aware if you have triggers. Reader is a gymnast/circus performer/underworld criminal, but otherwise physical descriptions are kept out. Reader is also not keen on being a parent (though not because they don’t like kids).

The lights were out in the lobby. That wasn’t that unusual. The building you lived in was only barely above the level of run-down most people would consider dilapidated. If it was just the lights, you wouldn’t be as on edge as you currently felt. But as not just one, but two of the security doors leading in were unlatched your hackles went up.

You immediately became aware of someone lurking in the shadow of the stairwell, and you relaxed.

Some people gave off a certain energy. It was comfortable and familiar and if they were there you just knew. It was almost like their molecules blended with yours and spoke to each other without needing to be aware it was happening.

“You gonna hide there all night?” You asked, readjusting the paper bag of groceries you were carrying as you started climbing the crooked stairs up to your apartment. The archer stepped out of the shadows soundlessly and began to follow you upstairs.

You hadn’t seen Clint for what was coming up to fifteen years, give or take. Yet you could always tell when he was there. Even now, his presence in the room just felt a certain way. The two of you were connected through a shared past and in the end, it was always the two of you.

He followed you upstairs, not saying a word. You carefully juggled your groceries as you unlocked your door and he followed you inside and closed it behind him. Your apartment was small. Just one room that acted as your bedroom and living room, with a tiny nook on one side that was your kitchen, and a bathroom on the far end that looked out onto the building next door.

Your grey tabby cat, Jasper, met you at the door, meowing loudly. He wound his way between your feet. You put your groceries down and opened a tin of cat food, and emptied it into his dish. You dropped the tin into the sink and turned to Clint.

“So, business or pleasure?” You asked. Instead of answering directly, Clint spun you and crashed his lips into yours, pushing you back against the bench as he kissed you hard. You braced one hand against the bench behind you and ran the other up his chest. Fifteen years had not taken anything from Clint’s physique. He was just as muscular as you remembered him being back when you were both barely even counted as adults. The kiss was just how you remembered too. His lips were familiar and exciting. This was something you’d done hundreds of times, but it had been so long that it was new as well.

Clint pulled back and looked down at you. Those blue eyes that you knew so well were lined at the corners. “So, business then?” You teased.

He pulled away from you and nodded. “I’m afraid so.”

You started to unpack your groceries. You had assumed it would be work. For a long time, you and Clint trod the same line between dark and light. Then one day Clint had veered directly into the light. Ever since then, he’d used his contacts up anytime he’d needed information. You’d heard stories, often directly from the source about many getting roughed up by him while he was on some mission for SHIELD and then the Avengers.

He hadn’t come to you yet, but you knew it was a matter of time before he ran out of options.

“What is it?” You asked, putting your milk in the fridge.

Clint began pawing through your groceries pulling things out and scattering them over your benchtop. He found a punnet of blueberries and popped it open and began to eat them. “You can get me into the bar with no name, can’t you?”

You looked at him and raised your eyebrow. “Are you trying to get me killed?”

He held up his hands. “I swear to god, I’m not going to start anything. I’m supposed to pick something up.”

“What idiot told you they’d meet you there? You. Hawkeye of the Avengers,” you asked.

Clint smirked. “Zelda.”

You shook your head and ran your hands down your face. “It’s a setup, Clint. You know that right?”

“She doesn’t know it’s me,” Clint assured you. “I swear.”

“She knows, just like I would know,” you said. “And it’s moot. You show your face in there, and they’ll kill you and then they’ll kill me for bringing you. You’re hardly incognito anymore.”

Clint put down the blueberries and came over to you, he snaked his arms around your waist and pulled you close. “Come on, sugar,” he said, using your old stage name. “Do it for old times sake. Don’t you miss me?”

“I miss the stuff you led with,” you huffed. “Why’s it taken you so long to track me down?”

He frowned and his thumbs drew circles on your hips. “I wanted to…”

“But?”

“But… I didn’t want to get to the point where you rejected me. It was always you and me,” he said. “And I changed, but you never told me no.”

You huffed and pulled away from him. “God, you suck.”

“I know,” he said. “But I’d owe you. And imagine what that could do for you. Having an Avenger in your debt.” He came up behind you and pulled you back against him again. “We can continue with what we were doing after if you like?”

You leaned back against him. “Clint…”

“Come on…” he begged. “It’ll be you and me again.”

You huffed. “She definitely doesn’t know it’s you?”

“No, I swear.”

“How about this,” you said, turning to face him. “I go in. Pretend to be someone picking up the … whatever it is… and I’ll bring it to you.”

“How do I know you won’t just run off with it?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

You smiled at him. “You’re going to have to trust me, aren’t you?”

* * *

A few hours later you were dressed head to toe in black Kevlar body armor and your sword strapped to your back. In television and movies bars with a large criminal element always had a no-weapons rule. You’d check them at the door to avoid any incident on site. For the Bar With No Name, it was the opposite. They employed a nuclear deterrent method. Everyone was either armed or enhanced and that way no one would start anything if they wanted to avoid anything getting ugly.

You spotted Zelda sitting at the bar. She sat alone with several empty seats on either side. The patrons closer to her eyed her with a mixture of revulsion and fear due to the large Burmese Python she had casually wrapped around her. You knew the name of the snake even though you’d never seen that one before. They always had the same name.

“Hello, Zelda,” you said. “And how’s Precious?”

She looked at you a little surprised. “Oh my god! What are you doing here? I haven’t seen you in forever!”

She hugged you and the snake nosed at your side. “I’m here for you.”

She pulled back and looked at you. “No…” she said. “No, you’re not.”

You opened one of the pouches on your belt to show her the wad of cash Clint had supplied you with.

“Well then,” she said, pulling a microdrive out of her pocket. You went to take it from her but just as you started to close your fingers around it, she flicked it back over her knuckles and out of your reach. Precious the snake lifted his head and hissed softly. “But first, tell me, why are you working with Hawkeye.”

As you’d expected, she knew. “I’m not,” you lied.

Zelda put the drive on the bar and the snake slithered off her and began encircling it. “That’s funny,” she said. “Because I’ve been talking to Clint Barton for two months about this drive and yet here you are.”

“You’ve got it wrong. You’ve been talking to one of my people,” you argued.

She laughed loudly and Precious reared her head and bared her fangs. “Honey, you, me, and Clint go way back. You think I wouldn’t recognize that idiot’s voice when I heard it?”

“If you really expected it to be Clint then why would you suggest meeting him in the only place in the city he can’t get into?” You asked.

“Because,” Zeda said, leaning forward a little. “I can’t kill him, but maybe all these people can.”

You looked directly in her eye not moving, aware that Precious had started to sway slightly where she sat. You were burned. No matter what you did now, everyone in here would soon know you were working with the Avengers. Even if it was just this once and just Clint Barton. If you stood up and walked out, Zelda would tell everyone about it after. If you grabbed the disk, chaos would break out and they’d all know now. You didn’t want to hurt her snake, but if you were burned, you were burned. Might as well get what you came for.

You moved quickly. Too quick for Zelda. She wasn’t really a fighter and even back at the circus it was her snakes over fitness. Precious on the other hand was fast. As your fingers closed around the drive, Precious lunged at you, sinking her fangs into your arm. You screamed out and yanked your hand back as you drew your sword.

Everyone in the room drew their weapons as their attention snapped to you.

“She’s working with the Avengers!” Zelda shouted.

“Liar! She is!” You countered and slammed the hilt of your head down on Precious’ head. The snake let go of our arm and you started gushing blood. All around you chaos broke out as people decided which of you was lying. You ran for the door as the snake lunged at you again. This time you were quicker than the snake, ducking to the side so that the large python slammed into the chest of a large man who had come running at you. He screamed and began wrestling with the snake and you launched yourself over his head using four more random people as stepping stones to get to the door as gunfire broke out.

The large security guard blocked your exit. You squared off with your sword, preparing to fight on all sides, when the door blew in suddenly, flattening the guard. Clint stood on the other side grinning. “What are you waiting for?” He said.

“God, you suck,” you laughed and ran out after him, half the bar close on your heels. Clint fired a series of his trick arrows at the group pursuing you. Two got pinned to the wall of the building as they existed, blocking the path for anyone else. Another got clocked on the head with a concussion arrow. And three more were captured in his net arrow. The last arrow he fired exploded into a cloud of smoke and the two of you ducked down a side alley while the remaining pursuers disappeared from view.

“Where are we going?” You asked.

“Subway,” Clint said, pointing to the entrance on the other side of the road.

You ducked through the traffic, jumping over the hood of a taxi and sliding down the railing into the subway below. You jumped the barrier as Clint pulled out a ticket and scanned in and the two of you got onto the very first train you saw as its door closed behind you.

“Did you get it?” He asked as the two of you stood panting and leaning against each other. You held out the drive. Blood was still running down your arm but it wasn’t until now that you were aware of how bad it was. You swooned, and Clint caught you. “Woah. Did the snake get you?” He said, pulling off his shirt and wrapping it around your arm.

The other people in the carriage had all started backing away and moving down the train and Clint got you to take a seat on one of the plastic chairs. “Yeah. It’s just a python though. It’ll stop bleeding.”

“I’ll take you back to my place and patch you up. Might be better if you don’t go home tonight.”

“Are you kidding me?” You asked. “You burned me. They’re gonna swarm my place looking to see if I am an Avenger. No one will work with me now.”

Clint shrugged. “Maybe it’s better that way.”

“Easy for you to say, Mister Avenger,” you snapped.

“Come on,” Clint teased. “You can’t tell me that wasn’t fun.”

You huffed and nodded, a reluctant smile playing over your lips. “Yeah… I guess it was.”


	2. Then

_Clint had heard word about your arrival at the circus before he even saw you. ‘Did you hear about the new girl?’ ‘Have you seen the new girl?’ ‘What do you know about the new girl?’  
_

_The circus was family and that family didn’t take new members very often. They were picky about who was included. Many would think that exclusivity would come out of a need for skilled performers. That the new members would have to have something to bring to the big top. A talent that could be sold. A new member would need to be able to walk a tightrope or swing on a trapeze. Or at least have something special about them that people might pay money to see._

_That wasn’t true at all. The only thing you needed to join the Tiboldt Circus was to be desperate. There was always a skill you could learn that would make you useful to the circus, and there were a lot of roles to fill. It wasn’t unless you were truly desperate and you had no one else to turn that the circus would take you in._

_So before Clint had even seen you, he’d heard all kinds of rumors about you, but the only thing he knew for sure was that you were desperate - because if you weren’t, you wouldn’t be here._

_He first spotted you coming out of Jacques’ trailer, frowning and straightening your clothes. There was at least one rumor about you that had been true. You were young. At a guess, Clint would have said fifteen. You were at that awkward, in-between phase where you were just starting to show the outlines of the adult you’d become, but you definitely were not an adult. The fact you were coming out of Jacques’ trailer meant you were more desperate than Clint had thought, and it made the archers’ blood boil._

_He stormed over to the trailer and slammed the door open. “What the hell is wrong with you?” Clint shouted. Jacques was putting away the camera he’d just used to take your pictures. He still tried to hide what he was doing with the girls he brought in here. Everyone knew, but knowing and having evidence were two different things. “She’s a kid you fucking pervert.”_

_Jacques looked at Clint incredulously. “She has to pull her weight and with no skills, that gives her something to do.”_

_“That’s what you call something to do?” Clint shouted. “You’re a disgusting creep. Leave her out of your fucking bullshit porn ring, you fucking monster.”_

_Jacques pulled himself up to his full height. To the small boy who had been beaten by his parents and foster parents, the full six feet and four inches that the Swordsman stood were intimidating. Now Clint was seventeen and could match Jacques both in height and skill, he was no longer scared of his mentor. “I promised you that I’d never hit you, Clint,” Jacques snapped. “Don’t make me a liar. This is none of your business. I didn’t do anything she didn’t agree to.”_

_“And what did you promise her to make her agree to anything, huh?” Clint snarled back. “Fucking sicko.”_

_Jacques poked Clint hard in the sternum. “You know the rules. We don’t snitch on family. Now go sulk about it, like you always do.”_

_Clint huffed and turned around, slamming the door behind him. The circus was the safest place he had ever known, but there were times like this he wanted to burn it to the ground. He stalked off in the direction he had seen you head off in. Of all the shitty things that the circus pulled, Jacques’ photography was the worst one. He targeted underage girls, and it made Clint sick to know there was nothing he could do about it that wouldn’t have him kicked out onto the street._

_He found you over near the animals getting a little too close to the tigers. “That looks like as good a way to end it all as any,” Clint said._

_You spun around and assumed a defensive position. Clint was reminded of a wolverine for a moment. Small but all teeth and claws. It spoke a lot about what you must have been through that you were so young and so ready to fight._

_“They’re tame aren’t they?” You asked._

_“Not that tame,” Clint replied. “They need to get to know you first.”_

_“Oh,” you said, disappointment etched on your features._

_“You like animals, huh?” Clint asked._

_You backed away from him a little, getting closer still to the tigers. Clint held his hands up and stepped back. “Seriously, kid,” he said. “I know your experience might say otherwise, but those guys are the bigger threat. I’m not going to touch you, okay?”_

_“Lots of people say that,” you said._

_“Did Jacques touch you?” Clint asked._

_You looked at him with your eyes narrowed, sizing him up for a moment, before shaking your head._

_“Took your pictures though, right?” He asked._

_He didn’t need to elaborate. You knew what he meant by taking your pictures and you dropped your eyes and nodded._

_“You shouldn’t have let him do that,” Clint said._

_“He said I had to if I wanted to stay,” you said. “Said it would just be pictures of me. Nothing else. And you and I both know there are worse things than some pictures.”_

_Clint sighed and nodded. “Yeah, unfortunately, I do,” he agreed. “But you don’t gotta do that. They just want you to contribute. That’s all. They tried to get me to do things I didn’t want to do. So I learned archery instead.”_

_You looked at him suspiciously. “What could I do? I don’t know how to do anything.”_

_“I could teach you,” Clint said. “Acrobatics. How to fight. Make it so no one ever touches you again. Unless you want them to.”_

_You didn’t say anything. To be honest, Clint hadn’t expected you to. He knew what it was like to be in your position. Back then he would hide behind Barney and let him do all the talking and make all the decisions. Clint had been so angry and mistrustful back then. To be fair, that hadn’t changed too much. With all the criminal activity that happened here, he still didn’t trust the people he considered family. He still held on to a lot of anger too and it would come out in violent bursts of rage without a target to aim it at._

_But he wanted to be better and to do better, and maybe he could save you from the shit that this place could drag you into and have it just be a safe spot._

_“I get it,” Clint said with a nod. “You don’t trust me. I wouldn’t either. But, I’ll be around. And if you like I can talk to someone who works with the animals. You can start by helping them out.”_

_“You’d do that?” You asked._

_Clint nodded. “Yeah. We aren’t all shit. But you’ll probably be shoveling a lot of it.”_

_You laughed. It didn’t last long. More of a puff of air than anything. But for a brief moment, a smile passed over your face, and it had been the first one he’d seen you wear._

_“Just… keep away from Jacques,” Clint said. “You don’t answer to him. He’s not the boss here.”_

_You nodded again and seemed to go to say something, though you quickly changed your mind when two women appeared around the side of the tent. Side-by-side they could have been sisters, standing the same height, with a similar complexion. Even their hair was a similar color, though one’s sat in long, tight curls and the other was shorter and straighter. The main difference between them was the woman on the right was covered in tattoos and the one on the left had unblemished skin. She also carried a large python that had curled its way around her._

_“Clint, there you are,” the tattooed woman said. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”_

_“I’ve been around,” Clint said, trying to play it cool. He’d had a crush on Eden for a while now, and recently it seemed to be reciprocated. “Eden, Zelda this is… uhh…” He paused and looked at you, realizing he didn’t know your name. Thankfully you took the queue and quickly gave it to the two women. “Zelda, you think you might have anything for her to do? She likes animals.”_

_“You okay with snakes, sweetie?” Zelda asked._

_“Oh yeah,” you said, quickly. “I think they’re really cool.”_

_“Come with me then,” she said. “You can help me with the snakes. Maybe I’ll talk to Tarrax or Major -” she looked over at Clint. “Cleaning up elephant shit won’t be enough for long, you know?”_

_Clint nodded. “I know.”_

_You followed after Zelda and Clint turned his attention to Eden. “So you were looking for me, huh?”_

_Eden smirked and approached him. “Was thinking we could go into the town. See what trouble we can get into.”_

_Clint held out his elbow out to her. “Darlin’, knowing you, it will be quite a lot.”_


	3. Now

You sat on the vanity with your shirt off while Clint patched up your arm. It was no surprise he was so deft at dealing with puncture wounds. Clint was extremely talented with the bow, but also a bit of a klutz. He always had been, so getting stabbed by his own arrows wasn’t that uncommon. As a result, he knew this particular wound and had done a good job patching you up. The wound had been cleaned and treated. The blood flow eased and he was just finishing up the dressings.

He tore the last piece of tape from the dressing and patted it in place. “That should do it. Thankfully it looked clean,” he said.

“I’m sure it will be fine. It’s not the first time one of her snakes has bitten me,” you said, with a shrug.

Clint chuckled. “Well, same.”

You both laughed and he patted your thigh. “Thanks for helping me,” he said. “I know that really put you out on a line. You didn’t have to do that.”

“Yeah, well,” you said with a shrug. “What can I say, when it comes to you, I’m a soft touch.”

Clint chuckled. “That’s not how I remember it.”

You laughed gently and reached forward, hooking your fingers through the belt loops of his pants and drew him closer to you. He seemed to move too slow and you began to think he might not actually want this. That he might not want you.

He tilted his head, leaned in, hesitated for a moment, then cradled your jaw and kissed you. You kissed back passionately, wrapping your legs around his waist and drawing him closer to you. He started to grind against you, holding you against him as he pushed you back against the mirror. You moaned into his lips and bunched your hands into his hair. You had missed this so much. The desperate need and passion, along with the way he tried to keep you on the right path while he danced on and off his own.

His fingers deftly unfastened your bra and you tossed it aside as he kissed down your neck to your breasts. You let your head fall back against the glass and closed your eyes as you just enjoyed the feel of his mouth on you. His cock hardened in his pants as he ground against you and it added to that delicious friction against your cunt. Your traced your fingers down his back, those familiar muscles only hardened and developed with time.

Clint’s mouth returned to yours and he guided you down off the sink and pushed your pants down. You stepped out of the fabric and let him guide you using the hunger of your kiss into the bedroom. You were backed against the wall and you wrapped a leg around his waist grinding against his cock. “Fuck, Clint,” you gasped, as you hastily unbuckled his pants.

He chuckled and pushed them down looking over at his bed where his one-eyed golden retriever sat. “Lucky, get down,” he said.

The dog wagged his tail and for a moment you didn’t think he was going to move but he jumped down and moved to the dog bed in the corner. You pushed Clint back onto the bed. Clint groaned and pulled you down on top of him. You rolled your hips, your cunt dripping and soaking through your panties. Clint rutted up against you, the only thing separating his sex from yours was the thing cotton of his boxer shorts and the lace of your panties.

He rolled you over and pushed down his boxers as you wriggled out of your panties. A lightheaded, breathless feeling was setting in, yet you still would not break the kiss. The heat of his skin against yours and the tingling in your lips was addictive, and you didn’t want to break it for anything.

Clint reached over to his bedside table and fumbled for a condom. As he grabbed hold of a strip and pulled it over, knocking a book, and several electronic devices to the floor including his phone, you rolled him onto his back again and straddled his waist. 

“God, I missed you,” he hummed as he watched you first tear one packet from the strip, and then tear the packet open.

“You’re the one who had to go and join SHIELD,” you teased as you rolled the rubber down over his shaft.

He groaned and rolled you again lining himself up and thrusting hard into you. You cried out and bucked up under him and Clint quickly covered your mouth and looked down into your eyes. “Shh…” he whispered, as he began to thrust hard into your cunt. “Gotta be quiet.” 

You weren’t sure what prompted this need for silence. Perhaps he had thin walls and a neighbor who liked to complain. Maybe there was a roommate you weren’t aware of. Whatever it was, it was nothing except sexy, adding to that desperate frantic nature of what was happening. Like it was somehow illicit and forbidden. It reminded you of when you first started dating and living in old hostels with thin walls or roommates. Every moment together feeling slightly stolen. Perhaps that’s why he did it. The words ‘you gotta be quiet’ were common between you back before SHIELD.

You opened your mouth and he pushed two of his fingers inside. You sucked on them as he slowly moved them in and out of your mouth slowly countering the frantic thrusting of his hips. You mewled around his digits, the sound muffled by his hand. He looked down at you, his blue eyes completely blown out with lust as he fucked you hard.

You moved with him, rolling your hips and clenching your walls. He moaned and brought his hand between the two of you, rubbing your clit furiously as he pounded into your cunt.

You gasped and arched you back. Clint took his hand away and kissed you hard, smothering your cry as your orgasm hit. He groaned and his hips began to stutter and just as the last of your orgasm shuddered through you, he came, groaning into your lips.

You sighed and relaxed back on his mattress, settling into the soft, sleepy, high feeling you had. Today had been eventful and that was a good way to end it. Clint sat up and took off the condom, tying it off and throwing it in the trash. He rubbed your hip as he removed his hearing aids and lay down beside you spooning you from behind.

It had been such a long time since you and Clint had shared a bed. As you drifted off to sleep you couldn’t help but think about how nice it was to be wrapped in his arms again.

* * *

The sun was coming through the cracks in the blind when you woke and it took a moment for you to realize you weren’t in your bed. Your body ached and not just in the spot the snake had bitten you. You had that pleasant throb in your cunt and the strain from muscles you hadn’t used for a while getting an intense workout before you’d gone to sleep You sat up and stretched.

The space beside you was empty and you sat up and looked around. It wasn’t like Clint to get up before you, but then, it had been a long time since you’d last seen him.

Stranger than him not being there, was that your clothes were gone. There was a neatly folded pile of clothes on the chair by the door, that included a towel and a note. You got up and approached them cautiously. This was so unlike the Clint you knew that it was borderline worrying. It was like he was trying to send you a message that something bad had gone down and you half expected the note to be a ransom note from Zelda.

You picked up the note and furrowed your brow as you read.

> _Hey babe,_
> 
> _Take your time getting ready. Your clothes were kinda bloody so I took them to the laundry. They’ll be done this morning but in the meantime, I borrowed some clothes from a neighbor who looked about your size. Feel free to use the shower, but don’t come down naked._
> 
> _-Clint._

You read the note over twice. Despite the fact that sending body armor off to be laundered was very strange, there didn’t seem to be any secret message involved and for the first time, you realized that maybe joining SHIELD had given Clint the change he needed. Maybe the angry boy you had known back in the day was gone and he had been replaced with a content and together man.

You decided that whatever the case, you might as well be clean before you went down to see what was up. You took a shower and changed the dressing on your bite wound before changing into the clothes Clint had left for you. They were the clothes of an old lady. The kind you might buy at Sears or Costco. The top was a floral loose-fitting blouse in a cheap polyester and there was a pair of tan slacks that sat almost at your rib cage when you did the buttons up. You laughed as you looked yourself over in the mirror and headed down to find Clint.

The stairs from the hall led straight down into the kitchen. The sound of bugs bunny cartoons playing on TV reached you as you descended the steps to find Clint making pancakes in the kitchen. The kitchen was a chaotic mess with dishes in the sink and batter and flower mixing together on the countertops to make a sticky mess. You smiled, slightly reassured that he didn’t have his shit completely together.

You crept up behind him and wrapped your arms around his waist, pressing a kiss to his shoulder.

He hummed and ran his fingers over your knuckles. “Good morning.”

“Morning,” you whispered and looked down into the pan. There were two pancakes frying in butter. Both were a little messy, but there was a definite shape to them. The one on the left vaguely resembled a T-Rex. While the one on the right had a much clearer stegosaurus.

“Dinosaur pancakes?” You giggled, not really sure what to make of it.

He chuckled. “For Nate.”

“Nate?” You asked, puzzled.

He pointed out into the living room and you blanched. Sitting on the couch with his one-eyed dog, were three kids. “Yeah,” he said. “Nate. My son.”


	4. Then

_Life in the circus could move on quickly. When Clint stopped seeing you around Jacques Duquesne, he stopped worrying about you and while he did still see you around from time-to-time, the two of you didn’t have a lot to do with each other. Unless you were in his field of vision, he didn’t spare you much of a thought. He had other things that occupied him anyway.  
_

_For starters, he had this general need to be the best at what he did. He practiced archery and swordsmanship so that people would be excited to see him. Crowds would pay money and he’d earn his place legitimately and wouldn’t be made to pickpockets or run any of the scams they had going at any one time._

_There was also Eden. He’d been dating her since you showed up and it was getting hot and heavy pretty fast. He didn’t feel the need to be glued to her constantly but he definitely liked being with her more than not. Though it was hard to pick out exactly what it was that drew him to her. She knew more about him than he knew about her. She seemed to like listening to him prattle on about any old thing that popped into his head. She never really gave him anything back though and sometimes he did wonder if he just liked the way she made him feel. That thought never lasted long though. She was a hot, a good listener, and even better lay, and at seventeen there wasn’t much else he was looking for._

_You showed up a few months after you arrived at the circus while Clint and Eden were making out behind the trailer he shared with his brother and a couple of the other younger guys in the troop. You stood awkwardly looking off to the side and Eden pulled back and looked at you._

_“Can we help you?” She asked._

_“I just wanted to talk to Clint,” you said, shifting awkwardly. “Sorry.”_

_Eden shrugged and got up. “I said I’d go rehearse a new routine with Ringmaster,” she said. “He’s all yours.”_

_Clint watched her leave, his eyes almost transfixed by the way her tattoos moved as she swayed her hips, and as she disappeared around the side of the big top, he turned his attention to you. “What’s up, kid?”_

_“You said you could teach me some things…” you said. “Does that offer still stand?”_

_Clint stood and looked around. “Jacques said something to you? I thought you were looking after some of the animals.”_

_You shrugged. “He said that the animals were all being looked after fine before I got here, and I needed to start earning my way.”_

_“Right,” Clint said with a nod. “Come on.”_

_You hurried after him, your legs moving twice as fast to keep up with the strides he was taking. “I’ll have to start with the basics, so you might need to find something in the meantime. When I was your age they made me pickpocket to pay my way and I’d already had about eight years of training,” Clint said. “But you don’t gotta pose for any photos. We can work out some other way you can make the money.”_

_“Oh yeah?” You snarked. “How exactly? I don’t know how to do shit.”_

_“Hey, I’m trying to help you here,” Clint said. “You want it or not?”_

_You looked at him like you were considering changing your mind before folding your hands over your chest and nodding._

_“Maybe you can be my assistant until you get better,” Clint suggested, grabbing a couple of wooden swords from the weapons case. “I can shoot apples off your head or Twizzlers out of your mouth or something. Maybe we can play up the fact you’re a kid. Have you come out in a cutesy dress with a balloon and I’ll pop it. I dunno. I’ll think of something.”_

_You looked down at your feet and nodded. “Why are you willing to help me?”_

_Clint tapped the end of the sword on the dirt in front of him. “What he’s doin’ isn’t right. You’re a kid. You shouldn’t have to go through shit like that. And it’s not right a bunch of pedos have your pics now to get their rocks off too,” he said. “We’re supposed to be a family here, and I know their moral compass is really fucked, but you don’t do that to family.”_

_You nodded and neither of you said anything for a moment. Clint tossed you one of the swords and you caught it easily. Clint was thankful for that at least. Being naturally coordinated would take you further with this than his training would on its own. You looked up at him and offered him a small smile. “Thanks, Clint.”_

_“Yeah, don’t mention it,” he said. “Gotta get good first.”_

_He took a stance with the sword in front of him. “I’ll show you a routine and then I’ll go through it slowly with you. Then you can try it alone and I’ll correct what you’re doing wrong.”_

_You nodded and Clint started._

* * *

_He stayed training with you until the bell for dinner was rung. There would be a show in an hour after that so he’d have to quickly change because he was usually the opening act these days. You had been focused hard during the training and Clint was surprised how quickly you were picking things up. You didn’t have the routine down perfectly, but if he went through the moves slowly you could follow along with him just fine. If you continued to improve like this, you’d be sparring within a couple of weeks._

_Clint just had to figure out how to train you, think of a way to keep training you, keep his own routine fresh, work you into that routine, and have time for a personal life. He sat down at the bench next to Barney while you went and sat with Zelda and the other animal acts. Zelda immediately started talking to you. The two of you began talking animatedly as one of Zelda’s python’s circled its way down the snake charmer’s arm and onto the table._

_Eden came out of a tent with Tiboldt, the circus’ ringmaster and leader. After scanning the table came she came to sit with Clint._

_“What were you doing with the Ringmaster?” Clint asked, accusatory._

_He had trust issues. He knew it but found them a little hard to keep under wraps. Jealousy was big for him - maybe a psychologist would say it had to do with his father’s abuse and the fact he bounced around foster care, making him think himself unworthy of love - but Clint had never been to see one, so all he knew for sure was he didn’t trust Eden not to run around on him._

_“Working,” Eden said simply and ran her hand down Clint’s spine. “You jealous, baby?”_

_“No,” Clint huffed, and Barney began laughing._

_“Sure you aren’t,” his brother taunted._

_“You don’t have anything to worry about, Clint,” Eden assured him. “I only have eyes for you, and no one is allowed to touch me except you.”_

_Clint looked at her, his eyes traveling up the tattoos on her neck to her perfect face, framed by her long dark curls. She leaned in and teased her lips over his and he pushed forward, capturing them and kissing her passionately. Barney made a gagging sound beside him._

_“Get a room would you?” He teased._

_Clint pulled back and pulled a face at his brother. “Would if I could.”_

_Eden laughed softly and turned Clint’s face to hers again. “Don’t be jealous.”_

_“I wasn’t,” Clint lied._

_“What did the kid want?” She said._

_Clint looked over to you. You were laughing but there was something about the way you held yourself that told him you were still on edge and ready to fight if you needed to. He didn’t trust Jacques, and he didn’t trust Eden to keep the secret well enough to stop it from getting back to Jacques. If Jacques found out that Clint was training you, not only would you end up having to pose for photos to keep your spot in the circus, but Clint would be in a world of trouble too. Jacques had once promised Clint he’d never beat him, and while it had never happened, there were times where Clint was sure it was a close call. “Just had an idea about doing a routine with me,” Clint said. “I think she wants to get out from behind the scenes?”_

_“Her?” Eden asked, looking over at you. “What talents does that little shit shoveler have that she can possibly make your act any better?”_

_“Just being my target,” Clint said. “You know, the girl on the board. She’s small enough, it’d work.”_

_“I could do that for you,” Eden said, running a long nail along his jawline. “Imagine that? The two of us sharing an act?”_

_“If you were part of my act no one would be looking at me,” Clint said. “Besides, you know Tiboldt wouldn’t agree to that.”_

_She wrinkled her nose. “I suppose you’re right. And I suppose it’s good the little brat should start earning her keep.”_

_“Yeah,” Clint said with a frown. “It’ll be fine. All she has to do is not be shot by me and that’s mostly on me.”_

_“And you and I both know how good you are at hitting the right spot,” Eden teased._

_“Seriously, you two,” Barney said, grimacing. “I’m trying to eat.”_

_Clint smiled but it was a distracted smile. One he wore to cover up the turmoil of his thoughts. He’d learned a lot of things while at the circus, and among them was if he played friendly and dumb - people underestimated him. He got up and wiped his hands. “Better go get ready for the curtain call. See you in a bit.”_

_Eden looked up at him startled. “Okay, baby. See you then.”_

_Clint scowled as he wandered off. Most of the time he was just used to how fucked up everything was here because it was his normal, and much less fucked up than what he came from. Then there were times like this where it hit him like a truck and he wondered if he’d ever really get free of it._


	5. Now

You blinked over at the three children that were sitting watching morning cartoons. All had dark hair, light eyes, and pale complexions, with a smattering of freckles over their cheeks. They all definitely looked related but none particularly resembled the blond 6’4 archer who was claiming to be their father. The oldest was a boy around thirteen years old that sat on the recliner with his legs crossed playing a game on a tablet. The girl was the middle child and only a couple of years younger than her brother. She sat on the couch with a glass of orange juice, her eyes fixed on the episode of Adventure Time currently playing. The youngest which you assumed was the one Clint had called Nate, was sitting in front of the coffee table with a plastic cup of milk. He was much younger than the other two by a lot. You figured he couldn’t be older than five but was more likely three or four.

As you took it all in, the shock didn’t seem to abate at all. You looked at Clint with your brow furrowed. “Why didn’t you tell me you had kids?” You whispered.

“I didn’t think you’d be here when you woke up,” Clint said, sliding the dinosaur pancakes onto a colorful melamine plate. You watched on as he added more batter to the griddle and then syrup to the pancakes and attempted to get your head around what was going on. He took the pancakes and put them in front of the little boy before coming back to you and taking your hand, leading you back into the stairwell and up a few steps. You noticed the girl notice you. She watched as her father led you up the stairs and then turned back to the TV.

“What… what… what the hell, Clint?” You said when you were safely out of earshot.

“Okay,” Clint said, putting his hands up like he was surrendering. “We haven’t seen each other for years. Years and years. I had a life. That’s all. And I didn’t tell you yesterday because you seemed so flighty. I figured what was the point. You’d run off in the night and we’d go back to being exactly where we were before yesterday happened.”

“But you blew up my before yesterday life,” you argued.

“I know,” he said, and relaxed his hands, gingerly taking one of yours. “I know, okay? I’m sorry. Can we start fresh?”

You let out a breath and nodded.

“Hey,” he said. “Remember me? It’s Clint. I met you at the circus when you were still a kid. Shit, I was still a kid too. I taught you how to use a sword and ride a horse.”

You smiled a little. “Yeah, I remember.”

“What have you been up to?” Clint asked. “Me? I joined the government organization, SHIELD. I was a spy and assassin. I bet you didn’t expect that. But I have to admit, I wasn’t great at either. Then I was an Avenger. You’ve heard of those guys? They’re like Superheroes? It’s kind of a big deal. Anyway… what else? Oh right. I got married. She was a single mom. I ended up adopting her kids, and then later we had one together.”

“Where is she?” You asked the sudden concern that you might have helped Clint cheat on his wife hitting you.

Clint frowned. “She died,” he said. “Car accident on the way home from the store. A drunk driver slammed into her at a T intersection.” He closed his eyes and shook his head. You let him have time to work out what he wanted to do with the emotions he had attached to the memory and when he opened his eyes again, he looked a little sadder than he had before. “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I kinda assumed you’d bail on me. But I am totally here for you sticking around too. I wanted you to come with me back… before. That never changed. So if you wanna try - whatever. Or the kids are a deal-breaker. Whatever. Just… I’m here. Okay?”

You nodded. “Okay.”

“I know you never liked kids…”

“I liked kids,” you interrupted. “I just never wanted them.”

“Right, well,” he said. “You want to meet mine?”

“Sure,” you said with a small nod, closing your hand around his.

Clint led you back downstairs and flipped the pancakes on the griddle as he passed it. “Hey kids, I want you to meet my friend. She’s going to be staying here for a bit,” he gave them your name and then began to indicate to each kid. “That’s Cooper over there. Then Lila. And the little guy is Nate.”

“Hi,” you said, aiming for cheery. “It’s nice to meet you.”

They all echoed their hellos not particularly giving you too much attention, the way most kids did when you interrupted them doing something they enjoyed. Clint’s dog ran to the door and began wagging his tail and a second later the door opened.

“Oh and this is Ebony,” Clint said. “The nanny. She lives here too.”

Ebony had a flustered look about her as she sidestepped Lucky with a large basket of laundry. “Here’s the clothes. I really gotta go. I’m meeting people in Hell’s Kitchen.”

“Thank you. I mean it, thank you. You’re a lifesaver,” Clint said, taking the laundry basket off her and thrusting it into your arms. “I owe you one.”

“You owe me at least fifty,” Ebony said. “Do not call me unless it’s the end of the world.”

“Right, of course. Have fun,” Clint said as she grabbed her purse.

“See you, trouble makers,” she called as she hurried back out the door.

Clint returned to the pancakes and served up another batch before adding more batter again. “Your clothes are in there,” he said, indicating to the basket. “She agreed to do an emergency load of laundry for you because she said it would be a crime to force you out of the house in old Mrs. Wheeler’s clothes. And don’t worry, she knows how to launder armor, she takes care of mine.”

You laughed. “I like her already.”

“Go up and change and I’ll have breakfast waiting for you when you get back down,” he said.

* * *

When you came back downstairs, Clint was plating up the last of the pancakes as well as bacon, eggs, and fresh fruit. It was a little startling to you given the last time you’d seen him he lived on coffee and cold pizza.

Clint smiled at you and when you approached, he put his hand on your arm and drew you in a little closer. Just before his lips touched yours he looked into your eyes. “Is this okay?”

You swallowed and nodded, not exactly sure if it would be, but wanting it nonetheless. Clint brought his lips to yours. This kiss was brief, but passionate, like you were doing something forbidden and clandestine, even though there was nothing about the two of you together that should feel like that at all. When he pulled back, he tapped your ass and grabbed his plate. “Come on,” he said.

You grabbed your breakfast and followed Clint to the couch and sat down on the only available recliner. “Alright kids,” Clint said, as Lucky came and put his head in his lap, in the hopes Clint might give him bacon. “We have a little bit to get done today and you’re with me. We’re gonna take the subway into the city. I need to drop something off at work. I might see if Auntie Nat can hang out with you for a bit. You all okay with that?”

They all agreed and then he turned to you. “We can go over to your place after that if you want. Grab some of your stuff.”

“You gonna go armed?” You asked.

“Naturally,” Clint said, dropping a wink at you.

“Then after all that, we can do something fun. You wanna go to Central Park while we’re in the city? We can go to the zoo or on the carousel.”

“Can we stay late and see a musical?” Cooper asked.

Clint raised an eyebrow at him. “Of all the things I expected to come out of one of my kids’ mouths, that was not one of them,” he said. “What do you guys think? I guess we can see Aladdin.”

“Matilda,” Nate said, excitedly.

“Oh yeah? You want to see a play about someone like your Auntie Wanda?” Clint joked.

They all talked plans over breakfast and you sat quietly feeling a little out of place. It was clear that Clint loved his kids a lot, but even more clear was that he wanted to give them the happy, healthy, childhood that he’d been denied. There was never a suggestion that was thrown out without discussion. Nothing was a bad idea. It also explained the effort that he’d put into breakfast.

There were signs of the Clint you knew when you left though. The dishes were just dumped into the sink and rather than putting the weapons he planned on bringing in a case, he just shoved them into a duffle bag.

The dog came along on the trip and for a while, you wondered how he was going to get him on the subway. But when you got there he was put awkwardly into a backpack that Clint had been carrying and Clint wore the golden retriever on the train.

The kids and the dog were dropped off with the person you only knew as Black Widow from news reports. Thankfully your criminal activity was fairly low key and more of the civil disobedience kind, so the Avengers ignored you. But you knew people who had had run-ins with her, and it never turned out well for them.

Then Clint had taken you up to see Captain America and Tony Stark. They’d obviously been alerted to his presence and the reason for him being there because both were dressed fairly casually (the Captain in a light blue t-shirt that clung to his skin and a brown leather jacket while Stark had a t-shirt with a science pun on it over dress pants), but they were both waiting for him.

“Got it,” Clint said, pulling the microdrive out of his pocket. Stark snatched it and patted Clint on the cheek.

“Not just a pretty face after all,” he said, going over to one of the consols and plugging it in.

“And who is this?” Steve asked, nodding to you.

“This is my friend,” Clint said. “We knew each other at the circus. She helped with this, but I got her burned. You think she can … you know…? Join up?”

“Just going to start recruiting people, Link from the past?” Tony teased, without looking up from the computer.

“What can you do?” the Captain asked, ignoring Stark and looking you over.

“Whoah,” you said holding up your hands. “Who said I even wanted to be part of your elite group of do-gooders?”

“I like her,” Tony said. “She’s got my vote.”

The Captain rolled his eyes but that was the most he acknowledged either you or Stark.

“She’s good, Cap,” Clint said. “She can fight, and she’s agile as hell. Can get from one side of the room to the other without touching the ground when it’s just a room with a few other people. She can even balance on the blade of a sword.”

Steve looked at you, impressed. “Well,” he said. “If you ever change your mind, you’re welcome to try out. If you can keep up with Clint and Nat, you’re in.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” you snarked.

“Alright,” Clint said, shaking his head. “Enjoy your intel. We have a couple of other things to do today.”

The Captain looked at the duffle bag Clint was carrying. “Do you need any help?”

“We’ve got it,” Clint answered. “It’ll probably be nothing.”

* * *

Clint couldn’t have been more wrong. When you got to the rundown building you lived in, the security doors were both broken wide open but when you got to your floor, the door was still closed.

“Ready?” Clint asked as you looked over the door for any signs of tampering.

You nodded. “Wonder what their plan is?” You said. “You think they’re inside?”

He nodded. “Either that or watching us through that apartment and they want to block our escape route.”

“Should we go through the window?” You asked.

“Nah,” he said. “Might as well take them head-on.”

You shrugged and pushed open the door. Jasper meowed at you impatiently and hissed in the direction of the neighbor’s door. He was the only life to be found in your place and you sighed. They were planning to ambush you.

“Lock the door and push the table up against it,” you said. Clint nodded and you went and started shoving things into bags. It was hard to decide what you wanted to keep and what you didn’t when you were under pressure to decide. You tried to balance things that you needed now, with things that had some kind of sentimental value. Thankfully, the circus had meant you’d gotten good at packing light and didn’t have a lot of things that you had a strong sentimental attachment to because it was only a couple of minutes before they were banging on the door.

“Might want to hurry, sugar,” Clint said, as someone fired at the locks. He nocked an arrow and pointed at the door.

“I’m hurrying,” you said, and grabbed a jacket and put it on. “Jasper, come here buddy,” you said, picking up your cat and zipping up your jacket around him. He wasn’t exactly happy to be in there, but thankfully despite your kevlar not being strong enough to keep out snake fangs, it handled cat claws fine.

The door shoved forward a little and Clint loosed an arrow, pinning someone’s hand to the doorframe. Whoever it was screamed. One of Zelda’s snakes slithered through the gap as whoever it was that was pinned to the door tried to muscle it open.

“Time to go,” Clint said, rushing to your side and wrapping his arm around your waist. You let him hustle you to the window and he shot a grappling arrow at the building across from yours. “That open window, there,” Clint said, pointing. “You got this?”

“Please, look who you’re talking to,” you said.

The two of you hoisted yourself through the window and jumped as the door was shoved open. Clint let you go as you arced over the gap between the buildings and you launched yourself off Clint’s thighs, stretching out, whilst holding your bags close to your body, so you dived headfirst through the window over the road, tucking yourself into a ball and rolling as you hit the ground. The old lady who lived there started screaming. Clint, came through the window feet first just after you, forward rolling to break the impact. “Sorry, ma’am!” He announced as he rolled straight to his feet and grabbed your arm, running to the door. “Avengers business!”

You started laughing as the two of you ran through the door and out into the hall. “Oh my god, Clint!” You shouted. “I missed this!”

Clint grinned at you as he jumped over the staircase railings. “Me too, babe.”


	6. Then

_Clint swung the sword in a lazy arc from left to right and back again as he watched you stretch. The springboard was set up between the two of you, and Clint hadn’t quite worked out how they’d hide that in the arena to make this look like you could get as much air as you needed without assistance. That was if the two of you could get it to work at all.  
_

_You’d come a long way since you first came to him for help. In the year and a bit since it happened you and he had started performing together. To begin with, Clint had just started training you to use the sword and the bow. While you learned he had incorporated you into his act doing simple things that didn’t require you to have any actual skills. Shooting an apple off your head. Putting you on a rotating wheel and firing arrows around your body._

_Jacques kept complaining that it wasn’t enough. He tried to argue that anyone could stand there while Clint shot at them. Thankfully it was enough for the Ringmaster, and so Jacques couldn’t touch you. Maynard Tiboldt was the head of the circus, and what he said was law. Clint had known that it wouldn’t be long until Jacques got in the Tiboldt’s ear and he’d come for you again, and if not that, that Tiboldt himself would think up some criminal activity he needed you to do. So Clint honed his act as you got better. New tricks were added and he trained you in more things. When he started training you in acrobatics, he knew he was on to something. You took to it even faster than you took to the sword. You were a natural and Clint ended up roping in the other acrobats to help train you._

_The act gradually grew as your skills became more honed. Little routines were added that had you backflipping out of the way of his arrows even though he was aiming not to hit you, and having you do handstands while he shot through your spread legs. As you got better the routine became more complex. Most recently Clint had you doing flips over the arrows he shot at targets as they traveled through the air. You’d even gotten to the point you could fire an arrow with your feet while you did a handstand. You weren’t particularly accurate but it served as a good starter for Clint to copy and spit your arrow in two._

_He knew - the way he knew it about himself too - that you needed to keep getting better or it wouldn’t be enough anymore and they’d drag you right down into the pits with them. So he kept planning out more things you could do together. You were good with the horses, so he thought about incorporating them somehow. He thought about trick arrows and how the two of you could use them together. Anything that would keep drawing in a crowd and make the circus money so neither of you had to make it elsewhere._

_“You ready?” He asked._

_“Yeah. Are you?” You answered._

_He nodded and thrust the sword forward as if he was going to stab you. You jumped rotating straight up through the air and landed with both feet, on the flat of the blade. Clint’s shoulder strained and the blade wobbled. You managed to stay standing on it for less than a second, but Clint couldn’t hold the blade steady and you slipped. You managed to get some leverage off the blade as you fell and turned mid-air, landing in a crouched position on the ground._

_“Shit,” Clint cursed, rolling his shoulder. “Sorry. It’s the weight when you land. It’s hard to keep steady.”_

_“I could just immediately backflip off again,” you suggested. “Make it look like I kicked you in the face.”_

_Clint laughed. “I mean, sure we can start with that. But I think the crowd would appreciate it more if they get a moment to applaud it.”_

_“Yeah, but if I wrench your shoulder you’re not going to be good for anything, are you?” You said._

_Clint looked down at the blade. “Reinforcing the blade helped with its stability. I wonder if we could rig something for me.”_

_“I dunno, Clint,” you said. “You’re better with those gadgets than I am. But wouldn’t that make shooting an arrow harder?”_

_“We can do an overdramatic jacket removal,” he suggested._

_“Anything to get your shirt off,” you teased. “You trying to scare the customers away?”_

_“Why you little shit,” Clint gasped playfully and lunged at you, you ran but he got his arm around your shoulders and pulled you into a headlock and ran his knuckle back and forth on the top of the head._

_“Clint!” You squealed, trying to struggle out of his hold. “Stop it!”_

_He stopped rubbing your head but kept you held under his arm. “I dunno if I should. You’re a big bunch of trouble.”_

_“I’m gonna kick your ass!” You shouted as you struggled._

_“Yeah, yeah. How are you gonna do that when you’re trapped under there?” He teased._

_The sound of someone clearing their throat cut through the clearing and Clint turned you to face Eden who was standing at the side of the tent. “What are you doing, Clinton?” She asked._

_Clint rubbed the top of your head again. “Someone seems to think I am some kind of hussy that likes to use his body to get attention.”_

_“And you’re not?” Eden teased._

_“Not you too!” She said, and dragged you after his girlfriend, as she backed up against the tent._

_“Clinton Francis Barton, you had better not!” She shouted._

_He wrapped his arm around Eden’s shoulders but instead of putting her in a headlock, he dipped her back and kissed her passionately, which only made you struggled under his arm more._

_“Stop it! I don’t wanna be pinned here while you make out!” You yelped._

_Eden pulled back laughing and Clint looked down at you with a smirk, before letting you go. You backed off of him scowling. “You suck.”_

_“Oh come on now,” Eden said. “You could have broken out of that, surely. Clint? Aren’t you teaching her how to fight?”_

_“Well I could have punched him in the nuts, but who knows where those have been,” you teased._

_“Why you little…” he said and lunged at you. You ran away laughing as Eden caught his wrist._

_“Let her go,” she said. “You spend entirely too much time around her anyway.”_

_“She’s in my act,” Clint said. “We have to rehearse. I was thinking of adding horses… I saw this thing where people did this act, riding them standing up. Jumping on and off. I reckon I could do that and maybe we could do the handstand arrow while riding next to each other. I bet that would…”_

_Eden stopped him by pressing her lips against his and pushing him up against one of the tent poles. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her even closer, trying to push out the thoughts of potential acts as her fingers tangled into his hair and ran along his scalp._

_“I think you spend entirely too much time with her,” Eden said. “I thought I was your girl.”_

_“You are, baby,” Clint assured her. “She’s just a kid. I only have eyes for you.”_

_“She’s not so much a kid anymore,” Eden said. “She’ll be turning seventeen soon.”_

_“Pfft,” Clint scoffed. “She’s a kid. You don’t trust me?”_

_Eden raised her eyebrow at him. “Do you always trust me?”_

_Clint furrowed his brow. The truth was he wasn’t sure if he did always trust her. Which had nothing to do with Eden at all, and everything to do with him. It was hard to equate trust and love together when all the people who showed him any kind of affection always hurt him so much. Even his brother who had spent his life protecting Clint was just as likely to hit him as he was to save him. So despite the fact that Eden hadn’t done anything to make him not trust her, anytime he saw her even next to another guy he felt possessive._

_“See,” she said. “Maybe we just need a little extra reassurance.”_

_Clint nodded and pressed his forehead against hers. “You don’t have to worry about me and her. It’s just our act and I gotta keep it fresh so Jacques doesn’t make us take part in his schemes.”_

_The shadow of a frown fell on Eden’s face so briefly that Clint wasn’t sure if it was really there at all. “Do you worry about me like that?”_

_“Of course I do, babe,” Clint said. “You and me, we’re gonna keep our noses clean.”_

_“What if they tell me what I’m doing isn’t enough?” Eden asked._

_Clint cradled her jaw and looked into her eyes. “Who said that? Did Jacques - “ he pulled away and squared off his shoulders. “I’ll fucking kill him.”_

_Eden grabbed Clint’s arm. “No one did anything. It was a; ‘What if…?’ I’m fine.”_

_“You’ll tell me… if he does? You’ll tell me?” Clint asked._

_“I’ll tell you, Clint. It’s fine,” she assured him. “Hey. How about you and I find somewhere quiet, so we can… you know?”_

_Clint smirked, the worries about trust and Jacques quickly pushed away. He took Eden’s hand and the two of them went to find somewhere private together._


	7. Now

Things between you and Clint had always been all or nothing. Before you were a couple there was no pining and wishing that he’d notice you. After you broke up, there wasn’t any holding on to the hope he’d come back. It just was on and then it was off. 0 or 100.

You were all in now. You’d gone back to his place with your cat and your things high on adrenaline that not even an afternoon hanging with his kids and going to see Aladdin on Broadway had been able to kill. When he’d finally gotten the kids into bed and Jasper to stop bothering Lucky, you’d pushed him down onto his bed and ridden him through four orgasms.

All in meant all in. It was that drunk on adrenaline passion that led people to get married to strangers in Vegas mixed with the undeniable real connection of close friends who can go forever without seeing each other just to pick up where they left off. It has only been a handful of weeks but if he said, let’s go get married right now, you’d do it without thinking twice. Even if it didn’t work out, it would work out because in the end you and Clint always would.

There were moments when you were out and he’d dragged you along to some Avengers thing because that idea that maybe you be a good guy for a change was one he wouldn’t let go of, and you’d think - this was it. Clint Barton was your person and fuck it, why not get married? Maybe you’d ask him and the two of you could elope somewhere and spend your honeymoon fucking your way through every position you could find on the internet. Then the whole domesticity of it would come crashing back and you’d chicken out.

Clint Barton might still be everything you remembered about him, all the things that had made the two of you work and made him love you so much, but he was also a dad - and that scared the shit out of you.

It was something you tried not to let bother you. Or at least you tried not to show that it did. It wasn’t a case of you regretting missing your chance of having that with him, or any jealousy that he got it without you. The concept of family was as alien to you as the concept of living in an undersea biodome. You had no frame of reference for it and felt awkward and out of place anytime you were included in that.

So you did your best to not draw attention to yourself and make the most of the time when it was just you and Clint and there was plenty of that. Especially after the kids had gone to bed at night.

You turned to Clint, tightening the straps on your harness as you smirked down at him. He lay naked on the bed, his arms tied to the bed head stretched out on either side of him. Even with his seemingly permanent collection of cuts and bruises, the man looked good naked.

“I am going to ruin you for any and all future partners,” you teased as you climbed up on the bed.

“Bring it,” Clint said, grinning at you.

You crawled up over him and kissed him hungrily as you used the lube to slick the toy strapped into your harness. Clint’s hands opened and closed and he flexed the muscles in his arms, making his biceps and the veins in his forearms pop.

The door opened a crack and a small voice broke the spell over the two of you. “Daddy, I don’t feel well.”

If you had moved any faster you would have broken the speed of sound. You jumped off Clint pulling the blankets over the two of you as Clint flicked his wrists, quickly slipping the knots you’d tied and sitting up. “Hey, buddy,” he said, way too calmly as he grabbed his boxers from the floor beside him. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s my tummy,” Nate replied, rubbing his eyes.

Clint jumped out of bed and grabbed a robe that was hanging on the door handle of the closet and shucked it on. He picked up Nate and cuddled the boy as he almost draped himself over Clint’s shoulder. “It’s alright. Let’s get you back to bed.”

He looked back at you and mouthed ‘sorry’ as he carried his son from the room. You groaned, rubbing your eyes with the balls of your hands, and got up. There were few bigger mood killers as effective as being walked in on by your lover’s toddler. You got up and started packing up the toys. First cleaning and packing away the strap on and then unfastening the hemp cords you’d used to bind Clint to the bed.

By the time Clint returned, you were in a sleep shirt and panties dozing under the covers.

“Aww, no,” he whined as he hung his robe back up. “What happened?”

“Your kid walked in on us,” you snarked. “You remember? Talk about a boner killer.”

Clint climbed in bed beside you and spooned you from behind. “I can get it back pretty quick,” he whispered, nipping at your earlobe.

“Clint,” you whined, pushing him back off you. “What if he comes back and I’m elbow deep in your ass? I’d traumatize him.”

“Well, a,” Clint said, stifling a laugh. “I never agreed to doing that, and b, he’s not the first kid to ever walk in on his parents having sex. Shit, he’s not even the first one of my kids ever to walk in on me. He’s too young to know what’s going on, and the other two are old enough to know to knock. Besides; he’s asleep now. It’s gonna be fine.”

You grumbled and pulled the blanket up tighter around you. Clint pushed himself up on his arms and looked down at you. “This whole ‘me being a dad’ thing is really getting to you, huh?”

“Well, when you’re kids walk in on me while you’re tied to the bed and I’m wearing a strap-on, yes… yes it does.”

He caressed your jaw. “I’m not expecting you to be their mom, you know?”

You rolled over and looked up at him. “But if this works. If we’re actually a couple again, that’s what I’m going to be. I can hate it and rail against it, but I’ll be responsible for making sure their childhood isn’t shit. Even if that is just by, not getting in your way while you take care of all that. They’ll call me their step-mom and … they’ll know… they’ll know that I never wanted this for myself and they’ll hate me for it. I can’t be the reason some kids’ lives get fucked up.”

“What are you saying?” Clint asked. “You want to break up?”

You shook your head. “I don’t know. But maybe I should move out until I know for sure what I want to do. I feel … you know… about you, Clint and that’s never going to change, but I always said the last person in the world who should be a parent is the person who doesn’t want to be one.”

Clint frowned. “I know. And you’re right. But where will you go? Whoever is working with Zelda is still after you. You won’t join the Avengers. It’s not safe out there for you alone.”

You shook your head. “I don’t know.”

“Then,” Clint said, leaning down and kissing your neck. “How about we forgot this even happened for now, and we do something fun to take our mind off it.”

You looked over to the door and ran your hands down Clint’s neck. “You’re sure he won’t come back in.”

“Almost 100% certain,” Clint said, grinning down at you.

“I’m not going to peg you,” you said.

“That’s okay,” he chuckled. “We can do it vanilla style.”

You started laughing silently and nodded. “Okay. But I’m traumatized, just so you know.”

“Who here isn’t?” Clint teased and brought his lips to yours. You wrapped your arms around his shoulders and kissed him deeply. He rolled on top of you and began to grind down against you. You spread your legs, welcoming his weight between them, and moaned into his lips as you felt his cock begin to harden against you.

You hummed, letting yourself warm back up to him, and shake off the incident from earlier. Slowly your cunt began to drip as your arousal grew. You both rolled over, and you weren’t sure if he initiated the position change, or you did, or if it was some organic movement to share control. He began to rub your clit in slow teasing circles as you rolled your hips, grinding down on his cock in a lazy figure-of-eight.

Clint kissed down your neck and sucked at the dip of your collarbone. You arched your back, and let your head fall back, moaning as a warm buzz spread through you. He moved lower and pulled your t-shirt up over your head. You tensed for a moment, worried that you’d end up with some other visitor, but as soon as Clint began to suck on your breast, you moaned, and all thoughts of intruders were pushed aside.

Your cunt flooded, soaking through your panties and slicking Clint’s cock. He began to buck up into you, making you bounce in his lap. You pushed him down and rested your hand on his throat. Raising yourself up, you pushed your panties to the side and lowered yourself down on Clint’s cock.

He groaned as his cock penetrated you and you hummed as you pulsed your walls around his shaft. He looked up at you, taking slow, deep breaths and you began to slowly swirl your hips.

“Fuck, you’re sexy,” he hummed.

You smiled a little. “You aren’t too bad either, Barton.”

He chuckled and rolled you both over, holding you down into the mattress as he began to fuck you. He started slow and deep, rolling his hips in the same way you did when you were riding him. The base of his shaft dragged over your clit with each roll of his hips and you arched your back and pulled his hair, wanting to increase that pleasant buzz that was rippling out from your cunt.

He curled down, keeping one hand on your throat as he pulled a nipple into his mouth. You lifted your knees, resting your heels on his shoulders and angling your hips up so that with each thrust of his hips the head of his cock would hit your g-spot. You moaned loudly and pulled the pillow down over your face to muffle the sound.

Clint began to rub your clit again so that every one of your pleasure centers was being hit at once. It was too much and all at once your muscles clenched and your cunt spasmed as you came. “Fuck!” You screamed into the pillow as you bucked up hard under him.

Clint’s hips began to stutter and he gripped the bed head above your head. You clenched your walls, squeezing his shaft, and grabbed his hair, pulling it. He grunted and with a hard jerk, he emptied inside you.

You let your legs slip back down as he relaxed down on top of you, his body a comforting pressure against yours. Slowly he slipped out of you and rolled on his back. “Told you it’d be fine.”

“Yeah,” you said. “But we need to put a bell on that kid.”

Clint started laughing. “I’ll think about it.”


	8. Then

_“Welcome to the ring, the man who can’t miss - Hawkeye!”  
_

_The crowd cheered and Clint cantered his horse out into the ring, he climbed up, so he was standing and waved to the crowd as he did a lap._

_“And the girl he can’t seem to hit, Sugar Snap!”_

_You rode out, first flipping off the front of your horse and then back on again, before bringing your horse up beside his, so the two of you were riding, standing up, side-by-side. “Ready?” Clint said._

_“Always,” you replied._

_You sat back down and spurred the horse on. As you took the lead on Clint, you collected your bow and an arrow from one of the clowns standing at the side of the ring. Clint did the same as he passed them and watched as you got into the handstand position on your moving horse. The crowd went deadly silent as you knocked your arrow with your feet, Clint got into the same position. You loosed the arrow as you passed the target, hitting it dead center. The crowd erupted in applause but before it even reached its peak, Clint loosed his arrow with his feet and it hit yours, splitting the shaft right down the middle._

_The crowd went berserk. You and Clint, both vaulted off your horses and landed side by side in the middle of the ring, your arms raised. You bowed together, first to one side of the crowd and then the other, soaking in the applause._

_You were 18 now, and the act was flawless. The ringmaster always had you opening these days, and it had been a long time since anyone had approached either of you about doing any of their criminal dealings. There had been an incident a year back where Clint had discovered Jacques with a load of stolen money and when he’d gone to turn the swordsman in, Jacques attempted to kill him. Clint had ended up with two broken legs, and his brother Barney had left the circus to go to college to get away from everything the circus was not long after that. He had asked Clint to go with him, but Clint had been so high on this rush of what he could only call fame, that there was no way he could let it go now._

_Besides, he had Eden and he knew that if he left the circus it would mean leaving her too and he was not willing to do that._

_Some of the clowns brought the rest of the equipment in and Clint put his quiver on his back and grabbed his bow. The next part of the act was about precision archery, acrobatics, perfect timing, and making sure he selected the correct arrow for each shot._

_He turned and aimed an arrow so it looked as if it was aiming at you, but was in fact aiming at a small target stuck to one of the tent poles just next to the audience. Close enough that they could all see how he hit the target and that it would feel like they were at risk, but not so close that there was in any risk at all._

_You ran backward and did a backflip, just as you launched yourself up off the ground, Clint loosed the arrow and it sailed under you, hitting the center of the target with a thud as you landed back on your feet. You began to run around the outside of the arena, and he loosed arrow after arrow in front of you, and you flipped over each one again and again, to the ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ of the crowd while each arrow hit the target perfectly._

_When you reached the target board, Clint changed the arrows. He began to loose them so each hit about a foot apart and a foot higher than the last, forming steps up the board. You climbed them as they hit, so it appeared as if you were stepping into the air and he was catching you with the arrows. When you reached the high wire platform above, Clint moved into a different routine._

_He hit moving targets, including pinning three small targets that swung down from three different directions and pinning them together with one arrow. He hit targets while he was flipping from one platform to another. All the while soaking in the attention from the crowd. Above him, you were getting into a harness that would only be visible to the keenest of eyes._

_When you were secure, you began dropping things on him. He started by quickly loosing arrows, sometimes three or four at a time, and pinning each item you dropped to a different target around the tent. Then he switched, dropping his bow and arrow and picking up a sword, as each item fell from above he sliced it in half._

_A few of the clowns came out with big trench coats on and carrying umbrellas. You began dropping water balloons on them and while everyone was distracted, Clint put on his special trenchcoat and hat. It was the one designed for the finale of the routine. It had a locking mechanism in the arm that allowed him to catch you on the blade of a sword without his arm jerking on impact._

_A huge bag of confetti dropped and exploded, queuing the clowns to scatter. You dropped a few more things down on him, letting Clint use his left arm to slice them in two, to show the crowd that the sword was real and not blunt._

_Then you jumped. You spun in the air, corkscrewing down toward him, he brandished his sword, and when you hit the springboard, you jumped up and flipped. Clint switched hands and lunged forward, the elbow mechanism locking in place so the flat of the blade was facing up. You landed on it, sending a shock through his arm. Everyone clapped and you curtsied while standing on the blade. Clint moved to grab you in a large over-exaggerated way and you backflipped catching the brim of his hate with your toe and flipping it off his head. You landed and ran forward, catching the hat on your head._

_The crowd erupted, everyone getting to their feet and cheering for you both. You helped Clint off with his coat and both of you bowed as your horses cantered back into the ring. You each ran to your horse and vaulted onto it’s back, taking a lap. Maynard entered the ring with his whip and took his spot on a podium in the middle as the clowns rushed in and cleaned up. “Let’s hear it again, for Hawkeye and Sugar Snap!’_

_The crowd applauded more and Clint followed you out of the ring. “And now, our very own Garden of Eden!” Maynard called, and Eden ran out past Clint, winking as she passed him._

_Clint got off his horse and rolled his shoulders as you approached him. “I think I need to work on that first jump. I felt that arrow,” you said._

_“You always say that, and I always tell you it’s in your head,” Clint teased. He walked over to the lip of the curtain and looked out at Eden as she did her contortion act. You stepped up beside him._

_“Just before I came out, Jacques approached her and said something about some art job,” you said._

_Clint bristled. He’d been hearing rumors about an art job for the past few days. He wasn’t sure exactly what was going on, mostly because he just tried to steer clear of all of that. There had definitely been a meeting with some art guy and the Ringmaster. Clint had remembered seeing the bald man with his black turtleneck and rectangular framed glasses talking to Tiboldt about the circus performers coming to some art museum as part of a charity gig. “She’s probably going to be part of that charity gig.”_

_You shrugged. “Yeah, maybe.”_

_Clint turned and looked at you. “What aren’t you telling me?”_

_“Nothing,” you said, though he wasn’t convinced._

_Clint had managed to get you to legal age without any more explicit photos being taken, but he knew Jacques still had a habit of sniffing around you. Barely legal wasn’t as good as illegal, but it would still make him money, and you had other things to offer now. The ability to parkour was a huge advantage to them, and you were very good with a blade. Clint knew that while the act was as good as it was, Jacques couldn’t threaten to have you kicked out, but he could offer you things and Clint wasn’t totally sure if you would always say no. Not if it was something like breaking and entering, and if this was some scam being organized by Tiboldt, then he was the boss, and if he said jump, you jumped._

_“Sugar?” Clint pressed._

_You huffed. “Wanted me to help him break in and help them steal some art. Said Tiboldt wanted everyone on the job.”_

_“Sugar!” Clint yelped._

_“I said no!” You said. “Who wants a bunch of dusty old paintings anyway?”_

_“You think he’s trying to recruit Eden?” Clint asked._

_You shrugged again. “Probably. Or Tiboldt already has and he was just passing on a message.”_

_Clint sighed, he wanted to believe that she wouldn’t be involved in anything like that, but love and trust were not things that were linked very strongly for him. “She wouldn’t, would she?” He asked._

_You shrugged again. “I dunno, Clint. You know her better than me. I do know that just about everyone else here would.”_

_He shook his head and stepped away from the curtain. “I’m gonna take a shower. I’ll see you tomorrow.”_

_You nodded and didn’t say anything. Just as he moved away he looked back at you. “Hey… thanks… you know…? For letting me know.”_

_You nodded and folded your hands over your chest. “Anytime, Clint. You know that. It’s me and you.”_

_Clint wasn’t so sure about that. He’d believed it before about other people who had let him down. But as he sized you up, he thought maybe of all the people in this circus he was supposed to think of as family, you might be the one that fit the description best._


	9. Now

You had fallen into a slightly uneasy truce with yourself. The part of you that had been adamant that you not fuck up any kids’ lives had been soothed down by the part that was really enjoying being back with Clint again. Some things made it easier to compartmentalize. Children weren’t by default terrible and the problem you had was never hating kids. It was hating your childhood. Besides, if there were any kids you were going to love instantly it would be Clint’s. Maybe it was never going to be in a motherly way, but they were his and you loved him.

Clint seemed to be making sure you never got put into the parenting role. You were never the babysitter or decision-maker when it came to things they should or shouldn’t be doing. If they wanted to go out for ice cream he’d decide if they could on his own and then ask if you wanted to as well, instead of asking you what you thought about the idea. That made things easier too. It meant you could avoid the step-mother role even if it did occasionally haunt you.

Cooper, Lila, and Nate seemed to take to you dating their father pretty well. They were good kids generally speaking, but the concern that they might see you as a step-mother worried you. The two older two definitely seemed to treat you as an entity in the house that they needed to be aware of. They didn’t come to you to ask for things, but they didn’t straight up ignore you. They’d say good morning when they saw you first thing and goodnight when they went to bed. If they were getting themselves a snack they might ask if you wanted some and they’d make general conversation about music or tv shows with you. However, it wasn’t the same level of excitement as when they were with Natasha Romanoff, who they were very close with, or the same level of deference when Ebony was in the room. You hoped that didn’t mean they resented you, or they thought you didn’t like them.

Nate, however, seemed to be completely different. He’d seek you out more and want to share things with you, like what his favorite toys were or the pictures he’d drawn. He’d come and sit on the couch with you and flop himself against you. It was a little scary considering how you felt about everything.

Clint kept pushing for you to join the Avengers, taking you to the Tower and ‘randomly’ having you bump into people who would then lecture you about using your abilities for good. It had the opposite effect than desired. The longer the lecture went the less you wanted to be subjected to further lectures about anything ever again. You still kept going in - partially because it was funny to see how frustrated Clint was when you’d say no, but mostly because now you were burned, you were very interested to see where this data you’d helped steal went. Not that they’d tell you anything. You weren’t an Avenger, so you weren’t privy to that kind of information. It seemed to have something to do with the circus people, and you were curious to know why none of them had approached you about their underground dealings.

That was all for weekdays though - unless it was the end of the world, Clint was home on weekends. That didn’t mean you were free from him trying to recruit you.

“So you’re just not gonna get a job?” He asked. He was sitting beside you on the couch with Lila sitting in front of him while he put her hair in a halo braid. There were some half-formed plans about going out in the afternoon, but everyone was just taking their time. You were eating cereal despite it being 11.30, Cooper was still in his pajamas, and Nate was hanging upside off the side of the couch with only his underwear, a t-shirt, and one sock on.

“Maybe I already have a job,” you teased and he looked at you with his eyes narrowed.

“You don’t, do you?” he asked.

“No. I don’t,” you agreed.

“The Avengers have really good medical, and a great 401K,” he said.

“Yeah because no one ever lasts long enough to cash out,” you snarked.

“She doesn’t have to be an Avenger if she doesn’t want to dad,” Lila said.

“Yeah, Clint,” you agreed. “Listen to your daughter.”

“Gee, thanks for your help, Li,” he teased. “You should see her though, she can shoot an arrow while doing a handstand while riding a horse.”

“You can do that,” Lila said, sounding bored.

“Wow,” you deadpanned. “Ruined the only cool thing I can do with your over achievement. Thanks, Clint.”

He pulled a face at you and was just about to say something when his phone rang. He stuck a bobby pin in Lila’s hair to hold it in place as he answered. “Yeah? - No, but I can’t… Fuck! … Are you shitting me right now? Ebony is off today. I think she went… no, I get it. Yeah. Okay.”

He hung up the phone and got up. “Gotta go in. Can you watch them? It’s an emergency.”

“What? But Clint…” You argued.

“Dad, you haven’t finished my hair!” Lila yelped.

“You can finish it, right?” Clint said to you as he grabbed his keys and tried to evade Lucky who was now dancing around his feet.

“Clint!” You yelped.

“You know I wouldn’t ask you if I didn’t have to,” he said and kissed Lila on the top of the head and then you, before blowing a raspberry on Nate’s tummy. The little boy squealed and fell off the chair in a heap. “Thanks, sugar. I’ll owe you one.”

“The biggest one ever!” You shouted as he ducked out the door.

Lila sighed and started to unwind her hair.

“I can do it,” you said.

She rolled her eyes. “You sounded really excited about the idea.”

You flinched. “I’m sorry… it’s not… I’m not… I can do your hair.”

She looked at you like she was trying to get a read on you. “We don’t want you to be our mom either you know?”

“Lila!” Cooper scolded.

You ran your hand down your face. “I know. I know… that’s… that’s part of the reason I’ve been the way I’ve been. I don’t not like you guys. If anything it’s because I like you a lot and I hate that you lost your mom. But I don’t want you to think I’m trying to be your mom or take her place.”

“Well, good,” Lila said. “We don’t want that either.”

“You want me to do your hair and I’ll be real with you?” You asked.

She nodded and moved into position. “So here’s the thing,” you said, as you started taking up where Clint had left off. “Me and your dad… we had pretty crappy childhoods. The people who were supposed to care for us - they hurt us instead. And I guess… your dad decided that when he grew up he’d have a family and make sure they never got hurt the way he was. But I decided that I didn’t want to risk ruining any kids’ lives. We ended up breaking up and going our own separate paths and they went just like that. I never had a family and he got married and got you guys. But now we’re back in each other’s lives and I care about your dad. I always have. And I am really scared that that’s gonna mean you guys get hurt and I’ve been trying really hard to just… let you be so it won’t be me that hurts you.”

“You really never wanted kids?” Cooper asked.

You shook your head. “Not because I don’t like them though. I think you guys are awesome.”

“You can be our friend if you like? We have a mom. She might have died but she was still our mom. But we also have an Auntie Nat and an Auntie Wanda and an Auntie Kate and an Ebony. You can just be whoever you are,” Cooper suggested.

You smiled and laughed softly. “You’re pretty smart, you know?”

“Yeah, I know,” Cooper joked.

“Friends then?” You asked.

“Yeah, friends,” he said.

Lila nodded.

“Okay, but here’s the thing,” you said. “There’s a thing that friends have that adults in charge don’t. You’re allowed to tell me off. Okay? If I overstep, or I do something that upsets you, you can tell me. I won’t be mad and because friends can’t punish each other the way your dad can. Right?”

Lila turned her head and looked at you. “Right. Okay.”

“I’m sorry I’m dating your dad,” you said lamely.

She laughed. “No, you aren’t. But that’s okay. He… it’s been a while since he’s not just been faking being happy.”

You smiled and went back to fixing her hair.

“You should tell us about the criminal stuff you’ve been doing if we’re friends,” Cooper said.

You started laughing. “I’m sure your dad would love it if I told you about that.”

“Come on,” Cooper begged. “You said we have to tell each other stuff.”

You laughed harder and shook your head. “Okay… where should I start?”


	10. Then

_Clint ran through the circus looking for Eden. He’d been in town getting some things when he’d spotted the paper. The words ‘Art Dealer Murdered’ were splashed over the front page, with a photograph of the man Clint recognized from when he’d had the meeting with Tiboldt and a picture of some of the missing art. He knew it had to do with the circus. That someone from here had killed him when they’d tried to steal the art. After what you had said about Eden potentially being involved, he was terrified that someone was her.  
_

_“Anyone seen Eden?” He called as he ran through the carnies setting up the tents for the show tonight._

_He spotted Bruto the Strong Man hammering in some of the larger poles and rushed over to him. “Bruto,” he said, slightly breathless. “You seen Eden around?”_

_Bruto thrust his thumb over his shoulder. “Check Tiboldt’s trailer.”_

_Clint nodded and ran towards the orange trailer that had the large banner advertising the circus on the side. “Eden,” he called. “Tiboldt - you guys in there?”_

_The door opened a crack and the thin weasley face peered around the corner. “What do you want, Barton?”_

_“Where’s Eden?” Clint asked._

_Tiboldt narrowed his eyes. “What… do … you… want?”_

_Clint thrust the paper forward, right into the Ringmaster’s face so he could see the headline. “This is the guy you were talking to a few days ago!”_

_“Really?” Tiboldt said, playing coy. “I talk to so many people when we do our shows…”_

_“He was the museum guy - we were gonna do some children’s charity gig for him?” Clint questioned._

_Tiboldt chuckled drily and handed the paper back to Clint. “Apparently, we won’t be now.”_

_Clint scowled, taking it. “Where’s Eden?”_

_Tiboldt pushed the door open so that Clint could see inside. Eden was sitting at the dressing table, naked except for a small towel wrapped around her waist. She turned, obviously startled that the Ringmaster would give her away. “Clint!” She yelped. “I…”_

_Clint fumed. He wanted to yell. To fight Tiboldt. To do something to express how angry and hurt he was right now. Tiboldt was the boss though and he was stuck. He’d been sleeping with Eden and they’d gone and murdered someone together and Clint was just some dumb sucker._

_He spun on his heel and stormed off._

_He’d made it halfway down the big top before Eden came chasing after him, the towel only barely wrapped around her. “Clint! Wait!” She called. “It’s not what you think!”_

_“Yeah?” He snapped, tossing the paper into the air. “‘Cause I’m thinkin’ you’re with him when you said you were my girl -” he loosed an arrow at it and shot past Eden’s head, pinning the paper to the wall of the trailer she was standing next to, the arrowhead piercing the picture of the murder victim through the head. “- and you helped him commit murder!”_

_“You…” Eden stammered. “You really think I would murder someone?”_

_Clint faltered. He didn’t know what he believed. He loved Eden and had loved her for a while now. But seeing her naked in that trailer only days after you had warned him about what was going on, he wasn’t sure if he could trust her. “I - no… no, I don’t…”_

_She approached him running her hand up into the back of his head and leaning into him. “As for Tiboldt and me - please - I was posing for a new trailer poster.” She looked into his eyes and tilted her head. “No one touches me - you know that. No one but you.”_

_She opened her towel, and wrapped it around him, bringing her naked body to his right out in the open in front of everyone. Heat flushed Clint’s skin and every coherent thought left his head. He kissed Eden deeply and hungrily the only thing even remotely resembling a coherent thought was the deep animalistic hunger he felt for her._

* * *

_That night as you and Clint got ready for the show, he’d all but forgotten the incident from earlier and the murder of the art dealer. You were fussing with the horses as he checked his equipment._

_“Five minutes ‘til showtime!” Tiboldt called. Clint flexed his bowstring and the bow snapped. “Ah, nuts!” He cursed and looked around, while Tidbolt called out the run list. “Anyone got a soldering iron?”_

_You shook your head while the other performers ignored him. “Hurry, Clint,” you said. “We’re first.”_

_“I’ll be quick,” he agreed and ran out the back of the tent. Eden was coming in from outside. She was wearing a bikini that would match her flesh if it wasn’t covered from neck to toe in intricate tattoos. “Eden, baby, I need a soldering iron,” he said._

_“Oh, I got one, Clint,” she teased._

_“You do?” He said, completely missing the teasing in his desperation to fix the bow before curtains up._

_“You wanna know where I’m keeping it?” She smirked_

_Realization dawned on him. Of course, the woman who was basically naked didn’t have a soldering iron on her. “Oh,” he said._

_“Try one of the storage chests, you big dope - the purple one, I think,” she said._

_He rushed down to where the storage chests were but instead of one, there were three purple chests, each identical to the other. “Aw, man…” he whined. “Eden… three of them are purple!”_

_“Two minutes!” Tiboldt called._

_“C’mon…” Clint muttered, opening one of the trunks. Sitting on top of the chest was the painting from the paper. It had been Tiboldt, just like he’d thought. Which meant it was probably Eden too._

_His heart sunk. He didn’t know what to do. It was one thing when it was just stealing - but murder? How could he stay with the Circus knowing they were doing that?_

_“Ladies and Gentleman -” Tiboldt called, his voice amplified over the big top. Clint cursed again and began digging for the soldering iron in the other trunks._

_He’d well and truly missed his queue when he reached you. Eden was out on the floor working her contortionist routine. “Where have you been?” You asked. “You missed your queue.”_

_“I’m sorry!” He said and came over close to you. “I was fixing my bow and I found a painting… one of the missing ones. They killed that art guy.”_

_You frowned. “Shit.”_

_“Did you have anything to do with it?” He asked._

_You held up your hands. “I swear I didn’t, Clint. I thought about it, but I knew if they had that over me, then they’d have control of me.”_

_“You think Eden did?” Clint muttered._

_You looked around and pulled Clint behind the horses more. He tried to see what had got you spooked and noticed Tiboldt watching you both. “I don’t know. Maybe,” you whispered. “You should ask her that.”_

_Clint’s shoulders sagged. “I might get us a motel room. Maybe if she’s away from the circus she’ll tell me.”_

_You shrugged. “Maybe.”_

_“Hawkeye, Sugar. You already missed on queue, you better get this one,” Tiboldt snapped, appearing around the front of the horses._

_“Yes, sir!” You said, getting on your horse._

_Clint did the same and waited for his queue. You leaned over to him. “Clint, what are you gonna do if she did do it?”_

_Clint shrugged. “I dunno. I dunno if I can stay here. Would you come with me?”_

_“Where would we go?” You asked. “We ran away to the circus, what’s after that?”_

_“Welcome to the ring, the man who can’t miss, Hawkeye!” Tiboldt announced, interrupting Clint’s train of thought. He spurred his horse on through the curtains. Not that he was sure what he was going to do, but if he turned everyone in, there was no way that the answer could be this anymore._

* * *

_You sat next to Clint by the payphone in the street. He’d done what he’d said. He’d taken Eden to a motel. They’d gotten dirty and then clean again, and while they showered he’d asked her about the murder. She denied the murder but not the theft and then got mad at him for not trusting her. Clint had gone to bed feeling sick to his stomach and the next morning he woke well before Eden, come back to the circus, and got you._

_“You really gonna do this, Clint?” You asked._

_He shrugged. “I dunno. They killed someone. That guy has a family. Friends. They deserve some kind of closure.”_

_You nodded. “The circus will be done. What will we do?”_

_“Go on the road together,” Clint suggested. “The act won’t be quite as good without the horses and the clowns, but we could do a pretty good routine. Maybe some solo work too.”_

_“Maybe if you do it anonymously they won’t know it was you,” you suggested._

_“Eden will know,” he said. “So will Tiboldt. This is gonna burn us. I already got my leg busted because I threatened to turn them in once.”_

_“I guess… make the call, and we go back and … pack our things?” You said. “If we can get as much of our stuff as we can, we won’t need to start from scratch.”_

_“You’re really going to come with me?” Clint asked._

_“Clint,” you said softly, lowering your eyes. “I know you don’t know exactly what happened to me before I joined the circus, but when I joined, and Jacques said I needed to take those pictures - he said that he wouldn’t touch me. That it’d just be some naked pictures and that’d pay for my upkeep. I didn’t like it, but … it was like levels, you know? When someone keeps breaking your bones, and then a different person says, come here I’ll bruise you, but I won’t break your bones, you go because compared to the broken bones, the bruising feels like heaven. And you… you said you’d protect me from anyone hurting me at all. And you did. You kept Jacques away from me and you gave me a way to protect myself. And you’ve never expected anything from me. I kept expecting that one day you’d be like ‘well look what I did, now you owe me so open up those pretty legs of yours’ but you didn’t. So yeah, Clint. I’ll go with you because it’s you and me. You’ve always got my back, it’s only fair I have yours too.”_

_Clint looked at you and smiled sadly. “You and me,” he said and patted your thigh. “Okay. I’m gonna do this.”_


	11. Now

Clint wasn’t home until late, and by the time he came through the door, bruised and battered from some fight that the Avengers had dragged him into, Ebony had come home from her date and helped you get the kids into bed - despite it technically being her day off. You were in the bathroom, brushing your teeth and getting ready to crash. You had very mixed feelings about what had happened. You were pissed that he’d just left you in charge with his kids like that when he knew how uncomfortable you felt in the responsible adult role. Yet you also understood how hard it was for him to balance being a single parent and an Avenger and you wanted to help him with that. Even in the short time that you’d been living with him, you’d seen how much he leaned on Ebony and how many of her days off ended up interrupted. You were also happy with the talk you’d had with the kids and how well you’d ended up getting along with them that day. You’d tried not to enforce too many rules and thankfully with the help of Lila and Cooper, you’d managed to balance the fact you didn’t want to be the stepmother figure with the fact you were the adult taking care of some kids.

He came up behind you and snaked his arms around your waist, kissing your cheek. “I am so, so sorry,” he said. “You know I wouldn’t have done that if I didn’t have any other choice.”

“What wou you ah du i’ I wa-en hea,” you asked around a mouth full of toothpaste and toothbrush.

Clint laughed. “Not sure I would have understood that even if I didn’t have problems with my hearing. Take two?”

You spat the toothpaste into to sink and rinsed your mouth before wheeling around on him. “What would you do if I wasn’t here? What if you didn’t have any other choice?”

Clint blanched and shook his head. “I don’t know. Take them in with me I guess. Make Hill watch them while she worked and I tried finding another sitter?”

“Then that should have been the choice, Clint. You shouldn’t have put me in that position,” you said.

He ran his hand through the back of his hair and dropped his gaze. “You’re right. I’m sorry. Was it terrible?”

“No,” you huffed. “But that’s not the point. You said you wouldn’t put me in that position.”

“I know,” Clint said. “I’m sorry. I’m… I’m really shit at this. The parenting… relationships. I’m sorry. I’m not saying that as an excuse. I just… I want to not be.”

You shook your head and nodded. “I’m not writing you off.”

He smiled a little and looked up at you. “What can I do to make up for it?” He asked, tugging at the hem of your sleep shirt.

“Certainly not something you get enjoyment from too,” you teased, as you head back into the bedroom.

He followed after you, looking a little like a puppy that had been kicked. “Did I really fuck this up? Are we okay?”

You nodded. “We’re okay,” you said. “You and I will always be okay, Clint. Even when it doesn’t seem like it is on the surface. And for future reference - you can leave me in charge of the kids. Just make sure it’s only in extreme emergencies.”

“Thank you,” he said. He smiled and came over to you, sliding his hands around your hips. You leaned in and ghosted your lips up his neck, breathing him in. “Then, I should get some more shit that you’re gonna be mad at me at out of the way now then.”

You pulled back and looked at him. “What now?”

“I need you to join the Avengers,” Clint said.

“Clint!” You yelped. “We’ve talked about this.”

“I know… babe… I know,” he said, furrowing his brow. “This is… I need you to trust me… The stuff I’ve been working on… it’s got to do with you… kinda… and you’re gonna want to be part of it. But you have to join or I can’t tell you anything.”

You sat down on the end of the bed with a soft ‘thump’. The oxygen seemed to be slowly draining out of the room. It was difficult to breathe and your eyes darted around while you thought about all the things the Avengers might have on you and how quickly you could pack up and get out of here so you could get as far as you could while also covering your tracks. You’d have to leave Jasper behind. The kids would take care of him. Nate quite liked the tabby cat and would sit and give him kisses while Jasper purred on his lap.

“What do they have on me, Clint?” You asked.

“No… no, sugar,” Clint said, crouching in front of you. “It’s not like that.”

“What is it like?” You pressed.

Clint shook his head. “It’s classified.”

You laughed. It was a dry and hollow sound and you tilted Clint’s chin to look up at you. “What are they going to do? Kick you out?”

“It has to do with Jacques…” Clint said.

Your heart started hammering in your chest and the wave of panic was replaced with a deep burning fury. The memories of posing for him in photographs when you were still just a child. How they’d started by just being a little risqué and ended up being explicit and degrading. You had told yourself at the time that you were okay with it, but as time went on the realization how you’d just let him convince you you were okay because he kept his hands to himself. If he was doing this to other people… Other kids…

“Is he…?” You asked.

Clint didn’t say anything for a while, he just caressed you outside of your thighs with his thumbs. “Help us get him.”

You nodded. “Okay.”

“Great,” Clint said, kissing your forehead. “I’ll take you in to see Steve. We’ll get him okay?”

You nodded, and lay down, curling yourself into a ball. He got in bed behind you and wrapped you in his arms, pulling himself tightly around you. “You okay?” He whispered.

You nodded. “Today has been a lot to process.”

“What can I do?” He asked. “I’ve heard I have magic hands.”

You grumbled something unintelligible, not really sure what you wanted exactly. He’d come in looking beaten to shit, and yet he wanted to take care of you. That was the thing about Clint, he knew that the deep down mental scares were always worse than some cuts and bruises.

He sat up and grabbed the lotion you kept on the bedside table. “Come on,” he said. “Shirt off. On your stomach.”

You took off your sleep shirt and lay down on your stomach. He squeezed the cool lotion on your back. You tensed at the sudden cold on your warm skin but soon relaxed again as Clint slowly massaged your back moving in from the center and out over your shoulders. As your muscles gave and relaxed, he moved down working out your ribs and sides and down to your ass.

You moaned under his careful touch and as he moved down to your thighs you spread your legs a little.

“Did you want something?” Clint chuckled, his hands remained on your thighs.

“Clint,” you whined, lifting your hips a little.

He laughed and leaned down and kissed your shoulder. His hands moved up the insides of your legs and teased the tips of his fingers over the fabric of your panties. “What?”

“Please, Clint…” you begged, pushing back on his hand, so his fingers slipped between your folds.

“So needy,” he teased and pulled your panties down, tossing them to the side. He slipped a pillow under your hips so your ass was propped up, he continued to massage your back with one hand as the other went to your cunt and teased up and down your folds. You moaned deeply and rocked your hips against his hand. His fingers moved from your entrance to your clit and back, smearing around your fluids and allowing his fingers to move faster.

A soft buzz spread out through you from your cunt, countered by the deep pressure Clint was still applying to your back. You groaned and lifted your hips more, spreading your knees wider and rocking back against his hand. He pushed a finger inside you and let you fuck yourself on it as he rubbed his thumb on your clit. He kept sucking and kissing at your neck. You began to moan louder and louder, as the buzz grew and swirled through you. You got closer and closer to the edge, and Clint took his fingers away and straddled your thighs.

His whole weight pressed down on you and he wrapped one arm around your shoulders, his fingers curling around your throat as he guided his cock, deep into your cunt. You moaned and pushed back, so he was pressed into you to the hilt. He began to roll his hips, thrusting into you as he kept you pinned down on the mattress. He warped his other arm under your chest and began to massage your breasts. You tilted your head and Clint ran his thumb down your cheek, slipping it into your parted lips. You sucked on it for a moment, only letting go when a sharp current ran through you that made you moan loudly.

Clint captured your lips, kissing you deeply and swirling his tongue with yours as he continued to fuck you slowly and deeply.

You groaned and clenched around him, rolling your hips with him, so your pussy ground against the fabric, adding that perfect friction. You began to pant, and Clint picked up his pace. He started to fuck you down into the mattress, bringing you closer and closer to the edge. You pushed your hand down between your legs and rubbed your clit. It was all it took to bring you crashing over the edge. You came with a loud moan, pressing your face down into the mattress.

Clint’s hips began to stutter, and with a groan, he thrust deep into you, coming hard.

He flopped, his whole weight resting on you, which for the muscular, six-foot-four archer, was considerable. Yet it was somehow comforting. You hummed and nuzzled into his cheek. “You know I feel a certain way about you, right?”

He chuckled and slipped out of you, rolling onto his side and creating a place for you to curl into. “I feel a certain way about you too, babe.”

You hummed and closed your eyes. Things were changing fast, and it was hard to keep tethered. You knew that you loved Clint, and even if not every decision he made was ideal, at least he was there with you when he made them.


	12. Then

_Clint was starting to miss the circus. It was never that he didn’t like the circus. He loved the circus. It was his family and he loved performing. He loved the positive reinforcement he got from the crowd when they cheered him on. He had loved being with Eden.  
_

_He just didn’t like all the underground stuff, and just because he’d gotten to the point where that shit had pushed him over the edge, didn’t mean he wanted to lose the rest of it. He was beginning to regret calling the police. What ended up happening was they’d pinned the murder on her and the others had just being accessories. She’d gotten locked up and Tiboldt just moved the circus on leaving you and Clint behind, and Clint felt terrible._

_The two of you had been trying to make your way together since but it wasn’t easy. When it was just the two of you, you had to find places to perform on your own. You busked a lot, but it was never a huge moneymaker. Often it wouldn’t even cover a place to stay that night, and you’d end up having to sleep rough, either on the outskirts of town or in a park somewhere._

_Thankfully, he’d managed to get you both a two-week job at a carnival which while it didn’t pay a lot - it meant you had a roof over your head and it was easy enough to talk some of the girls who worked the food stands into giving him funnel cake or corn dogs on the house._

_The problem with working carnivals was that people were never there to see the performers. They wanted to ride the rollercoaster and eat fried food. People would drift in and out of his show offering meager applause and then get distracted by a balloon seller and wander off again. He wanted to work somewhere where people wanted to see him and he could soak up their adoration._

_He’d been lying on the bed in just his sweats, feeling sorry for himself when you showed up. The place you were sharing was a crumby room with a bathroom that was shared with the entire floor in a hostel near the carnival. A lot of transient people who picked up work at the carnival ended up living at the hostel, so it had only been a couple of days when he started recognizing all the faces._

_You sat on the end of the bed and dropped a bag in front of you. He didn’t look up as you seemed to take off your shoes and put a new pair on. “Clint,” you said, tapping his leg to get his attention. He propped himself up and raised his eyebrow._

_You put one leg up on the edge of the bed, displaying the thigh-high boot you just put on. It had a low heel and all the way up the side was a series of thick buckles. It gave you both a dangerous and sexy look. Something he’d been noticing more and more now it was just the two of you. They also looked expensive._

_“How did you pay for those?” He asked._

_“Didn’t,” you said. “Don’t ask if you don’t wanna know.”_

_He sighed and flopped back down on the bed. “Didn’t we leave the circus to get away from the crime shit?”_

_“I’m not murdering people. I’m not committing grand larceny. Just… we need shit, Clint. You wanna keep performing to make money, I’m with you, but we’re not even earning enough to feed ourselves most days, and we have to upgrade our equipment sometimes,” you said. “I promise, I’m not doing shit you’d really hate.”_

_He huffed and you lay down next to him, holding one leg up and patting your boot as you looked it over. He rolled onto his side and watched you. You were smiling a little and flicking your ankle so your calf flexed. He wished he could trust you, but trust was hard for him. “I’m sorry I dragged you into this,” he said._

_You rolled over and looked at him. “You didn’t drag me anywhere,” you said. “You were right. They went too far, but maybe we need to figure out what we’re okay with, because the way we’re headed, we’re not gonna be able to do anything because we won’t have any equipment, any food, or anywhere to live.”_

_He nodded. “You’re right,” he said and worried at the inside of his cheek. “No hurting people.”_

_“Of course not,” you agreed._

_“No small businesses,” he said. “Those guys are just trying to get by too.”_

_You nodded. “I’d agree with that.”_

_“And if we hit a big store - you know, one owned by some big evil megacorp, we need to do it in a way that we’re not fucking up some dude who’s just running the checkout’s life,” he added._

_“I feel like retail is a waste of time,” you said._

_“You just stole some boots,” Clint argued._

_“Did I?” You said cryptically._

_“Didn’t you?” He asked._

_You quirked an eyebrow at him and he started laughing. “You little shit,” he said and started ticking you._

_You screeched and started giggling, grabbing his wrists and trying to wrestle him off you. He let you pin his hands behind his back and as he watched you, look at him smugly, your chest rising and falling as you caught your breath, he was struck by how sexy and dangerous you looked again. He wasn’t sure when that happened. He hadn’t always looked at you like that, and he wasn’t sure if you just different now, or if he just noticed it now. He leaned in a little, his lips parted and you took a deep breath in, moving in closer to him too._

_His lips came close to yours. Alarmingly close. He knew if he didn’t stop soon he was going to kiss you, and kissing you definitely meant things would change. He blinked and pulled back._

_“Sorry,” he said. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have…”_

_“Why not?” You asked, looking at him with your head slightly tilted. You let go of his wrists and he pulled his arms back and rubbed one of them._

_“I dunno… you’re a kid…” he said._

_You laughed. “I haven’t been a kid for a long time, Clint.”_

_“Oh,” he said, looking you up and down._

_“And you were kind of a kid too when we met,” you added. “You aren’t that much older than me.”_

_“Right,” he added._

_“So if you want to kiss me, you can,” you said. “It’ll be okay.”_

_He swallowed and nodded, not exactly sure if it would be, but wanting it nonetheless. You leaned in again, and he bridged the difference, bringing his lips to yours. You kissed him slowly and deeply, tangling your hands into his hair and guiding him onto his back. He wrapped his arms around you, gripping your shoulder and thigh. You rolled your hips against his leg and danced your tongue with his. He groaned softly, surprised and extremely turned on by how dominant you were being._

_He pulled you tighter to him, rutting his hips up against you, his cock hardening in his pants. You moaned into his lips and ran your hand up under his shirt, your fingers tracing his abs as you gradually pushed the fabric up. He rolled you and ran his hand from the top of your boot to the corner of your hip. Neither of you broke the kiss, each just hungrily moving your lips against the other’s._

_He slipped his hand down into your shorts and you broke away from him with a gasp and backed away, pushing his hands away from you. Clint looked at you startled as you drew your legs up against you. “No, no, no…” you said shaking your head. “I’m sorry.”_

_“Hey, hey,” Clint said, gently backing away from you a little. “It’s okay. We can stop.”_

_“I’m sorry, Clint,” you said, not looking at him. “I want to. I want to. I thought maybe if it was you it’d be okay.”_

_Clint moved so he was sitting cross-legged opposite you. “Sugar, it’s fine. I understand, okay?”_

_You nodded and started to wring your hands. “I’m broken.”_

_“Have you tried with someone else?” He asked._

_You nodded. “A few times. I’ve tried getting drunk first. I’ve tried smoking pot. I just keep freaking out.”_

_Clint held out his hand and you took it and moved, curling up so your head was in his lap. He began to play with your hair. “We never have to try again if you don’t want to. We can call this a dumb mistake.”_

_“Is that how you see it? A dumb mistake?” You asked, not looking up at him._

_“No,” he said. “But I think if I keep saying it, I might be able to get myself to believe it.”_

_You chuckled softly, but there was a slightly hysterical edge to it. He caressed your cheek. “If you want though,” he said gently. “We can just take our time. I’m not going anywhere.”_

_You looked up at him. “What if I can never do it?” You asked._

_“We’ll worry about that if it happens,” he said. “There’s no rush. You want to do it, right?”_

_“Yeah,” you said. “I really do.”_

_“And you can touch yourself, right?” he said. “I’ve heard you in the shower before.”_

_“Clint!” You yelled and hit him._

_“What? It’s my fault you come so loudly?” He teased._

_You broke down into giggles and he felt himself relax a little. “You do though, right?”_

_“Yeah. Just when it’s anyone else…” You said._

_“Then we can take our time. Make out a lot,” he said. “I’ll even take you on a date if you want.”_

_“Oh yeah?” You teased. “How are you gonna pay for that?”_

_He pinched your hip playfully and you squeaked and smacked his thigh. “How’s that sound?”_

_“It sounds good,” you agreed, sitting up._

_“Good,” he said and pecked your lips. “It’s you and me, remember?”_

_You nodded. “Yeah,” you said, as you started playing with his fingers. “Hey, Clint?”_

_“Yeah?”_

_“You want to make out again?” You asked._

_Clint chuckled and pulled you into his lap. “I’d love to,” he said and brought his lips to yours._


	13. Now

You had started to sweat. It had been a long time since you’d had such a good work out and even before Clint came along and burnt you, your work often kept you moving, it was rarely as much as this workout was. Even when it was a particularly gymnastic job, it was never for long. The key to being a cat burglar was moving quietly and being quick, not a long drawn-out session of intense mat work.

This was not a normal job though, and Steve Rogers was not your usual client.

Steve had wanted to see you in action, to make sure you could be part of the team, so you were auditioning to be part of the Avengers. Clint had been putting you through your paces and the two of you had been showing Steve a lot of your old circus routine, mixed in with a fair amount of hand-to-hand combat. You’d even done the blade run, you had been skeptical when Clint had suggested it, given he was shirtless and didn’t have the brace to keep the blade steady. It turned out, Clint had learned a trick or two since the two of you had parted ways all those years ago, and he’d kept it steady as you ran along the edge, and backflipped off.

Now the two of you were just sparring with staves. Despite the sheen of sweat clinging to your skin, it felt good to be training with Clint again. Like riding a bike.

Without warning, Steve threw his shield directly at you. It came hurtling towards you like a large and deadly frisbee - moving so fast the red, white, and blue blurred together. You acted on instinct, backflipping so it sailed under you, and as you tucked your legs up, you used your heel to kick the edge of it, making it flip mid-air and stopping its trajectory. You spun sideways and kicked it again, sending it hurtling back to Steve.

He caught it and flipped it onto his back, the click of the magnets locking it into place echoing through the large open space. “Alright, you’ve convinced me,” Steve said. “You’ll need to go through a security check and then put on payroll, but as far as I’m concerned, you’re on the team.”

“And I’ll be able to help you with this Swordsman case?” You asked.

Steve looked at Clint with his brow furrowed. Clint raised his hands in surrender but neither man actually said anything. “Yes, assuming you pass security, you can work that case. Congratulations.”

“Thank you,” you said sincerely. Not because you wanted to be an Avenger, but because you wanted to be the one that got to have Duquesne.

Steve left the gym and Clint turned and grinned at you. “I knew you could do it.”

“Obviously,” you snarked.

He chuckled and took a lazy sweep at your legs with the bow staff. You knocked it away with yours and he reached out and grabbed your wrist. You spun your hand and flipped his grip so you were holding his and he dropped his staff and went to grab you with the other hand.

The two of you grappled, switching grips so he would have you and you would have him as you slowly let him back you up against the wall. When your back touched the padded surface, he pushed your hands over your head and held them there. “I win,” he said.

“Oh yeah?” You asked, biting your bottom lip. “What do you win?”

He smirked and leaned in, ghosting his lips over yours. “I think you know,” he whispered.

You took a breath, parting your lips, but not bridging the gap. He leaned in so close to you, you could practically taste him. Your tongue flicked out like it had a mind of its own, tracing over his top lip. As you pulled it away again, he crashed his mouth against yours.

You kissed desperately and hungrily, wrapping your arms around him as he pressed you against the wall. His hands slid up your thighs and gripped them. You took the hint and jumped, wrapping your legs around his waist. He held you up, his lips moving against yours, letting you grind down on his hardening cock.

“Clint,” you whispered, only barely breaking the kiss, so you were half mumbling into his lips. “What if someone walks in?”

He pulled back and smirked at you. “Yeah. What if? That’d be terrible wouldn’t it?”

“Oh, I see,” you teased, pulling his hair so he was looking up into your eyes. “You like the idea of that, huh? What are you imagining in your pretty little head? You hoping someone comes in and joins us? I bet Tony Stark would be up for that right?”

Clint groaned and carried you so you were in reach of two rings hanging from the high ceiling. You grabbed them and arched back off him. Clint took the opportunity to pull down your pants. You took a step up on Clint’s chest, and wrapped your legs around his neck, letting him bury his face in your cunt. “Mmm…” you moaned as he swirled his tongue around your folds. “Given all the sex Stark has, you think he might swing in a few different directions? Maybe if he walks in on us, me and him could go to town on you. Would you like that?”

Clint groaned and sucked sloppily on your folds. “Or maybe you’re rather it be Natasha, huh?” You hummed, rolling your hips so you were grinding your pussy on his face. “You two used to have a thing right? You think she might like fooling around with me a little? We’d let you watch.”

Clint’s fingers dug into your thigh and he moaned as he pressed his lips around your clit. It sent a soft vibration through you, making your skin prickle. You hummed and dug your heels into his back, pulling him tighter to you. “Or is that what you’re hoping? Maybe one of your other friends just walks in and watches? That Winter Soldier guy just stands in the shadows and jerks off while we’re fucking. How does that sound to you, Clint?”

He groaned again, this time thrusting two fingers inside you and fucking you hard with them. You gasped and jerked your hips, gripping the rings tightly so as not to fall. Your fluids began to run from you, and he drank them up greedily, his tongue lapping from your entrance to your clit and back again. “Or are you hoping to get busted by Steve? How shocked would Cap be if he caught you? I bet you’d be in big trouble, huh?”

That seemed to trigger something, he let you down and when you let go of the rings he turned you and shoved you up against the pommel horse. “Oh my god, Clint,” you hummed as you braced yourself. “That was it, wasn’t it? You want Cap to get you in trouble.”

“Maybe it’s any of those things,” Clint teased and pushed down his pants, letting his cock spring free.

“Mmm, maybe it is,” you hummed as he tapped the head of his cock against your clit. “My dirty bird.”

He chuckled and lined himself up, thrusting deep into you. You groaned, letting him push you forward so your face was pressed on the coarse fabric of the equipment. He gripped your hip and without waiting for you to adjust began to pound into you. You moaned and held on as he fucked you hard. “Fuck yes, Clint!” You mewled. “Fuck me hard.”

He spanked your ass and continued to just rail into you. Your legs trembled as pleasure surged through you. Clint wrapped an arm around your waist and began to rub your clit. You cried out and bit into your fist. The sounds of your moans and cries and the slap of your bodies hitting together echoed in the large empty space. Each snap of his hips sent shockwaves through you and it was all you could do to hold it together.

“You gonna come, sugar?” Clint teased, pinching your clit. “I can feel that you’re close.”

“Don’t you want me to wait until Cap walks in, so he can see me come?” You teased.

“Fuck…” Clint groaned and spanked you again. It sent a current through you, blossoming out from the sharp heat in your ass cheek. You moaned and began to bounce back against him. “So dirty.”

You moaned and reached your hand behind you, your fingers curling into his hair. He pulled your head back and kissed you hard, his tongue swirling in your mouth. He never eased up his pace and you moaned desperately into his mouth, scrabbling for purchase so the two of you didn’t just fall to the floor.

He slapped your cunt. It sent a hard jolt through you and made your core muscles seize up. You cried out into Clint’s mouth and came hard, clenching around him, your walls milking his cock. He grunted and with a jerk, he thrust into you and came with a groan.

You hummed, pulsing your cunt around his cock as he spilled inside you. He slipped out and you both straightened up. “You’re such a tease,” he chuckled as I pulled up his pants.

“You didn’t know that?” You teased. “But no one walked in.”

“I know and it was the middle of the day, and you were so loud,” he said. “Imagine that.”

You laughed. “You knew?”

“Like you said, babe,” he said, throwing his arm around your shoulder. “Tony Stark likes to get frisky. There’s a ‘sock on the door protocol’. FRIDAY locks the door anytime anyone is hitting the ‘public sex’ kink.”

You broke down laughing and wrapped your arm around his waist, heading to the showers with him. “And here I thought you were all a bunch of goody-two-shoes,” you said. “Maybe being an Avenger won’t be so bad after all.”


	14. Then

_Clint kept close to you as the two of you crawled through the ventilation shaft. He was pressing himself so close to you and while he was sure he wasn’t breathing that heavily, every time he inhaled he was sure he was going to set off some kind of alarm._

_It was stupid really. Yeah, he’d always tried to avoid all the underground shit with the circus, but that didn’t mean he’d been able to avoid all of it. He’d broken into a few houses and once helped them hold up a bank. It wasn’t something he was particularly proud of, but it was something he was good at._

_This job would be the first big hit for the two of you. Pulling it off meant that you could pay the rent in an actual apartment upfront for about three months and buy new equipment. It would mean that for a while all the two of you would have to worry about was each other and the show. And who knew? Maybe he’d be discovered and never have to do this again._

_“You’re sure that they’re bad dudes?” Clint whispered. It was a question he’d asked a lot. You’d been planning this job, but he’d set some rules. The main one was not hurting innocent people._

_You sighed. It was the kind of sigh that was reserved for people whose patience was being tested. The ones that wanted to remain calm but were getting a little sick of repeating themselves. He was used to hearing it - well from everyone really - and he had asked that exact question a lot. “I promise,” you said. “They import drugs and… people from what I can tell. All these stores are just fronts.” You turned back to look at him. You looked completely calm considering where you were. He on the other hand had sweat clinging to his brow that was furrowed with worry. “Besides, what we’re taking… they probably won’t even notice.”_

_“I’m worried about that probably,” Clint said. The absolute last thing he wanted now was to be hunted down by some drug cartel._

_“Well, they definitely won’t know it was us,” you added. “There’s zero connection. And I’m really good.”_

_He nodded and you continued through the vents. When you reached the room you seemed to be looking for, he shifted the grill out of the way so you could peer down. The room was very dark - the only real light coming in through the cracks in the door and curtain. “Okay,” you whispered. “Make sure you’re ready to pull me back up.”_

_He nodded and helped lower you carefully to the ground. This wasn’t one of those break-and-enters like you see in the movies. There was no laser grid for you to somersault through and no pressure pads on the ground. From the intel you’d gotten, the safe was just the old turn and click type._

_Still - watching you move through the room was like watching art. You were light on your feet and you moved silently through the room. You went straight to the painting on the wall and after quickly checking it for tripwire you moved it back and began working on the safe. You held a small device up to it and pressed your ear against it as you turned the dial on the safe._

_It clicked open and you began putting wads of cash into your bag and taking wads of paper out of your bag and pushing them up the back. You’d had the idea to not empty the safe and to try to make it look like nothing had been removed. The money inside was still waiting to be laundered and who knew when they’d even get to the stuff in the back. By then, all the security footage of tonight would have been overwritten and they wouldn’t even know to look for someone the vague size and shape as you, let alone you specifically._

_When you seemed happy, you closed the safe and relocked it. You carefully slid the painting back in place and returned to the vent. Clint reached down and grabbed your arm and you pulled yourself gracefully back up, closing the grate behind you. “Alright, not totally out of the woods. Now to get out of here.”_

_Clint nodded and the two of you carefully but quickly returned from the way you came, first heading through the vents to the elevator shaft, and then out through the service tunnels, avoiding detection from the security guards on duty._

_It was surprisingly easy. Clint had been working at this kind of thing his whole life and you seemed to have a second sense for avoiding people. When you were finally well away from the building, you both took off your balaclavas and gloves, and shoved them in your pockets before getting on the first bus you could find. Neither of you said a thing for the whole trip home. And it was a long one. Not just because you had decided to hit a business nowhere near your usual haunts, but because the bus you’d gotten on went in the wrong direction, and you’d both needed to get out and double back, this time flagging down a cab and dishing out the seventy bucks it had cost you in cab fare._

_Clint was buzzing on adrenalin as the two of you ran upstairs into the room you shared in the hostel and when he finally locked the door behind you the two of you couldn’t contain your excitement anymore. He turned to see you staring at him and at once the two of you squealed. “Oh my god!” You yelped, running at him and wrapping your arms around his neck. He circled his arms around your waist and pulled you close, kissing you deeply - completely caught up in the excitement of it._

_When you pulled back you looked at him with your eyes twinkling. “Let’s see what we got.”_

_He nodded and you grabbed your backpack and dumped the contents on the bed. Along with the rope, lockpicks, and flashlight wads and wads of cash fell out in a pile. You moved everything that wasn’t cash off the bed as Clint picked up one of the wads and flicked his fingers through it. “Holy shit,” he said. “I thought we’d get ten grand. There has to be at least fifty here.”_

_You sat down on the bed and began to unbundle it. “Clint,” you said looking up at him. “Let’s leave. We have enough to go to New York. We can do our show there.”_

_“You don’t wanna stay here?” He asked._

_You shrugged. “I don’t mind too much. Just… in case … you know?”_

_“Aww, man. But there’s In and Out Burger here,” Clint whined._

_“There’s good pizza in New York,” you said grabbing his belt and tugging him closer to you._

_“Hmm…” he mused. “You do have a point.”_

_You looked up at him and began to unbuckle his belt. “You know what I think we should do first?”_

_“I think I have a slight idea,” he teased._

_The two of you still hadn’t had sex. You were getting closer but you’d often end up shying away when things got too hot and heavy. Clint didn’t mind being patient though. He loved sex, but he wasn’t above jacking off in the shower if it meant you weren’t rushing into something you weren’t ready for. If it took rolling around in a big pile of cash for you to get there, he was down for it._

_“We should get food delivered. Something fresh,” you said. “Sushi. And tacos.”_

_“Sounds good, sugar,” he said as you pushed his pants down. “Do I need to be pantsless for that?”_

_“After, silly,” you said, pulling your shirt off and flopping back on the bed. You grabbed one of the bundles of cash and threw them up into the air, giggling excitedly as the bills floated down around you._

_Clint smiled as he watched you and grabbed the waistband of your pants and dragged them down, nearly pulling you off the bed with them. You squealed and braced your foot on his chest to keep you on the bed and grabbed more of the money to throw above you all._

_“You’re having way too much fun there,” Clint teased, pulling off his shirt._

_“Get down here will you!” You said and dragged him down on top of you._

_Clint kissed you hungrily, grinding down on you as the two of you rolled around in the bed. His cock hardened and pressed against you through the fabric of his underwear. He could feel your wetness seeping through your underwear and onto his cock._

_He wanted you but kept his expectations low. He knew how hard this was for you and he knew if he started to expect anything, it would make you feel like there was something wrong with you._

_You wrapped your leg around his waist and pulled him closer to you. Clint rolled you, so you were pressed down on top of him and broke the kiss. “You’re in charge,” he whispered._

_You looked down at him, startled at first, and slowly you ran your tongue over your lips. “Yeah?” You asked._

_“Yeah,” Clint said. “I’m all yours. You can do whatever you want with me.”_

_You slowly caressed your hands down his chest as you seemed to consider what that meant and if you liked it. A smile gradually spread over your face and you pushed his hands up over his head. “Yeah,” you said and he wrapped his fingers around the head of the bed. “I’m in charge.”_

_You began to grind down on his cock as you looked into his eyes. He didn’t fight you - he just gazed up at you, rolling his hips to add to the friction against your cunt. Your eyes were darkened with lust and you moved one hand down pushing his pants down enough to free his cock and wrapping your fingers around it. The other hand you kept pressed on his wrists. He wasn’t sure if having his hands trapped made you feel more comfortable, or if it was just a turn-on for you to have him helpless for you, but he played along regardless. If he was being honest with himself, he was really into it. He loved seeing you take control. He loved submitting to you. His cock jumped and began to leak down his shaft and over your knuckles._

_“God you look sexy like this,” you hummed as you jerked him off. “Like you’re mine.”_

_“I am,” he groaned, bucking up under you. “All yours.”_

_You hummed and ran your fingers over his hand, closing them around the frame of the bedhead. “Keep your hands right there. Don’t make me tie you up.”_

_“Yes, ma’am,” Clint said quickly, though the idea of you tying him down was a turn-on in itself. You had the rope to do it right there._

_You got off him and pulled his pants all the way off and removed the rest of your clothes before grabbing a condom from the packet he kept in the side table that had thus far not been used. You placed it on his chest, obviously not quite ready for it, but wanting it nearby. Clint groaned and hoped that it was a sign that this was working for you in a way that nothing else had done._

_Straddling his lap again, you brushed your thumb over his lips and pushed it into his mouth. He sucked on it, moaning softly as your soaking cunt began to slide up and down his shaft, coating it in your arousal. As you watched him sucking on your thumb you began to finger your clit, making yourself wetter if it was at all possible. His cock ached to enter you and pulsed under your hot core._

_You pulled your thumb from his mouth and gripped his chin, forcing him to look up into your eyes. ‘Thank you,’ you mouthed, and let him go, grabbing the condom and tearing it open, before carefully rolling it down his length. He held his breath as you wrapped your fingers around his shaft once more and painfully slowly you guided him inside you._

_Your face was screwed up in concentration, but Clint couldn’t tear his eyes away from his cock and the way it slowly disappeared inside you, your hot walls clamping down around it. “Fuck,” he groaned. “Fuck you’re sexy.”_

_You smiled a little but didn’t say anything. Clint’s instinct was to reach up and cradle your jaw and make sure you were okay. He didn’t move though. He kept his hands on the bed head and he held his body still, waiting for you to decide if you were okay with this or not._

_“We can stop,” he assured you. “You’re in control.”_

_You took a deep breath in and exhaled slowly. “You feel so good inside me,” you hummed. “Fuck, Clint.”_

_He smiled and arched his back a little, pushing himself deeper into you. You gasped and let out a long moan before starting to bounce._

_You started slowly, just testing out how it felt and what you liked, but it wasn’t long until you were leaning over him and riding him like you were competing in a race. You returned one hand to his wrists, and the other went to his throat. He couldn’t help but picture you getting rough with him. Slapping his face, spitting in his mouth, having your fingers tighten around his throat until he couldn’t pull in air and just when he was starting to worry them relaxing again. The images only served to turn him on more, and he wondered if you might want to try those things at some point. He wanted to try it all with you._

_He began to buck his hips up under you erratically as he got closer to his release. You seemed to sense his climax and you shook your head. “Hold it,” you warned and began to rub your clit fast as you bounced on his cock._

_Clint grit his teeth, willing himself to hold back. Your cunt began to pulse and flutter and you threw your head back, your eyes closed and your lips parted as your orgasm it’s poised to hit. He bucked up under you, making your body slap against his, and with a loud cry you came, your whole body quaking with it._

_He groaned and his hips began to stutter as he held himself back. “Oh god,” he begged. “Please, sugar. I’m gonna…”_

_“Come for me, Clint,” you moan. “I want to feel it.”_

_He jerked up hard into you with a grunt, coming as he fully seated himself inside you. “Fuck,” he groaned._

_You let his arms go, and he took it as permission to move them. He wrapped you in his arms and rolled onto his side as he held you close. “You okay?” He asked._

_“Yes,” you whispered, your voice shaking a little. “I was starting to think I’d never be okay with that. Thank you.”_

_He shook his head and nuzzled at your cheek. “There’s nothing to thank me for.”_

_You looked like you were going to argue but instead, you slipped off his cock and nuzzled into him. “I feel some way about you, Clint,” you whispered._

_He chuckled. “I feel some way about you too,” he replied, pressing a kiss to your forehead._


	15. Now

“Alright, alright,” Clint said, holding his three kids at once. “I’ll be back soon enough. I promise.”

“We don’t want you to go,” Lila whined.

“I know, sweetheart,” Clint soothed. “But there are a bunch of kids just like you that are in trouble right now, and I gotta go help them. We’ll be back in a day or two. I promise.”

Clint’s words of reassurance seemed to only make the kids cling to him even tighter. You couldn’t blame them really - if you’d had a parent that had given half a damn about you, and you knew how easy it was to lose that, you wouldn’t want to let them go either.

“I’ll protect him,” you said. “Anyone who tries to hurt your dad will have to get through me first.”

“Yeah, and she’s really tough. Plus your Auntie Nat will be there. So will Auntie Wanda, and Uncle Steve,” Clint assured them. “I’ll be home soon, and Ebony’s gonna take really good care of you.”

“That’s right,” Ebony agreed. “I will. Plus, because you’re dad’s not here, I can give you as much candy as I want.”

Cooper and Lila reluctantly pulled away but when Ebony went to take Nate, he wailed and clung to Clint.

“Come on now, bud,” Clint soothed. “I need you to be super brave, and someone needs to take care of Jasper. You know he likes you best.”

Nate looked up and furrowed his brow. “Weally?”

“Yeah, really,” you agreed. “I think he likes you even more than he likes me.”

Nate reluctantly let himself be taken by Ebony and Clint quickly kissed the kids goodbye. “This is really just a ‘go-in and arrest them’ thing,” Clint said to Ebony. It was something he’d already told her three times, but she let him repeat it. “Couple of days max. I’ll call if I can but you can always call Pepper for a status report if you need to.”

“I know, I know,” Ebony said. “Get out. I’ve got this.”

He smiled at her and patted Lucky before heading out with you. “Fuck, that does not get easier.”

“Yeah, well, they’re worried about you,” you said, taking his hand as the two of you descended the stairs.

“It was better when Laura was alive,” he said. “They never loved me leaving, but there’d just be some tears. Not this ‘clinging to me’ thing.”

“Well,” you said. “The older two have lost two parents now, right? Probably they’ve started thinking they’ll lose everyone.”

Clint stopped dead in the stairwell and looked back up the stairs. “Fuck,” he cursed.

You took a few more steps before the tug of his hand made you realize that he wasn’t walking with you anymore. “What? You didn’t realize that?”

“I mean -” he shrugged his shoulders and started walking again. “I guess part of me did. I knew it was separation anxiety because they’d lost her. But I guess I didn’t think that this was becoming a theme for them.”

“You can stay behind if you want,” you said. “I am sure the rest of us can handle it.”

Clint shook his head. “No,” he said. “As much as I hate it, Jacques was one of my father figures. I hate him - and I also kind of love him. I need to see this out to the end.”

You nodded. You knew exactly how he felt. This was a long time in the making and you wanted to be there to take him down so you could have closure too.

When the two of you stepped out onto the street a van pulled up beside you and the back door slid open. You and Clint jumped in and squeezed into a chair next to Bucky. “How far do we have to go?” Clint asked.

“I’d say a three or four hour drive. Depending on traffic,” Steve said.

“We’re not taking the Quinn?”

“We didn’t want to give them a chance to spot us coming,” Steve said. “The whole reason Swordsman keeps getting away from us is because he’s always one step ahead. Tony and Sam are going to fly in once we get there.”

Clint nodded and shifted in his chair, pushing you against Bucky a little more. “Hey, bird,” Bucky snarked. “Wanna not spread out so much, we have a long fuckin’ drive.”

“Yeah?” Clint teased. “How about I do this instead.”

He leaned into you like he was going to kiss you. You burst out laughing and pulled away from him, pushing further against Bucky. “Get off me, you idiot!” You squealed.

“Steve, you think I can drive?” Bucky deadpanned as he pushed you both off of him.

* * *

It was dark by the time the van pulled up down the street from the large, yet run-down Queen Anne house that stood at the top of the hill, and everyone in the van was getting antsy. It was the kind of house that kids would say a witch owned. The yard was overgrown and brown, and the paint was all peeling from the timber of the house. There was a large, rusty gate out the front and the walls that surrounded it were starting to crumble. Somehow, despite never really knowing Jacques to have lived in a house, this was exactly the kind of place you could see him in.

You stretched a little as you stepped out of the back of the van, and Steve gathered you all into a huddle.

“From what we can tell, his security is top of the line, so don’t let the appearance fool you,” Steve said. “Tread lightly, stay in the shadow. He has a good view of the entire area, and if he’s alerted they’re all going to run. You four, he said pointing to you, Bucky, Natasha, and Clint split up. I want you to enter unseen, and block off the exits. The rest of us will follow on when you give the signal. Wanda, do your best to keep track of who’s in the building so we don’t lose anyone.”

“Yes, sir,” Wanda said.

“We all know our jobs?” Steve said. When no one replied he nodded. “Then let’s go.”

You pulled your mask down and followed Natasha, Bucky, and Clint up the hill, keeping low and to the shadows. When the four of you reached the stone fence, Natasha waved you and Clint in one direction and she and Bucky went in the other.

When you reached about halfway down the wall, you found a tree that - while it didn’t hang over the fence - it was close enough that the two of you could jump over. Clint gave you a lift into the tree and you pulled him up after you. Without a word the two of you ran along the branch that got you closest to the wall, and when the branch began to sag, you leaped, somersaulting in the air and landing crouched on the ground.

Clint wasn’t far behind you, and when he was safely inside the walls, you split up. Clint continued his trip around the building, while you went straight for it.

You reached a dying hedge near the house and crouched behind it as you surveyed the building. There was a cellar door near you and a trellis that ran up the side of the tower. You knew the likelihood that both were alarmed was pretty high if what Steve said was true.

Bucky’s voice came through your comms. “Winter Soldier in position. No indication they’ve seen us.”

“Black Widow in position,” Natasha responded. “Awaiting orders.”

“Sugar Snap in position,” you echoed, remaining hidden in your spot and gazing over the house, looking to see if anyone seemed clued into your position. There was movement in the house, but nothing that seemed to indicate that anyone was alarmed.

“Hang on, hang on…” Clint said, slightly breathlessly. “Okay, Hawkeye in position.”

“Alright, we’re at the gate,” Steve said. “Tony? Sam? You ready?”

“When you are, Cap,” Sam responded.

“Yeah, hurry it along,” Tony added. “I want to go back to binging the Mandalorian.”

“Alright, team one, enter the building,” Steve said. “Get as far in as you can go before tripping the alarms.”

You took off from your hiding spot, scaling the lattice until you reached the top window on the tower. Using your sword you forced the window open, immediately setting off the alarms. You ignored them, jumping through the window. There was no one in the room, but there were a lot of computers, and on the table were photos of girls in compromising positions. Your blood boiled seeing them, remembering back to when it was you being manipulated by the man who had said you’d be safe.

The sound of running echoed in the hall outside and you pulled your sword, readying yourself as the door burst open.

Jacques Duquesne hadn’t changed a lot in the past 18 years. He was older, yes. But aside from a few more lines on his face, and grey in his hair, but he still looked as fit as he ever had. “Well, well, well,” he said, stopping short in front of you and pulling his own sword from its sheath. “You’re all grown up. Zelda said you were working with the Avengers now.”

“That’s right,” you said. “And you are now going to go to prison for a very long time.”

He raised his sword. “That’s adorable. You think you’re going to get payback for something you agreed to willingly?”

“I was a kid!” You shouted and charged at him.

He deflected you easily. Your rage getting the better of you. You spun around and attacked him again, and he shoved you aside.

“You really are so cute, ma petite,” Jacques taunted. “Barton taught you with the blade, but he never was as good as me.”

He swung at you and knocked the blade to the side, but he pushed back, shoving your blade against you. He was stronger than you, and you couldn’t match the brute force he was putting behind the attack. You flipped backward and he swung the blade at you. You watched it in slow motion as the blade swung under you and put your foot on the flat of the blade, balancing on it even as it moved. You flipped back again and kicked him in the jaw, sending him reeling.

As you landed on the ground - sword at the ready - Jacques recovered, wiping the blood from his lip. “I’m going to make you pay for that, you little bitch.”

“Come get it,” you hissed.

He swung at you, and you countered. He swung again quickly, and each strike he made, you parried. He was stronger and the better swordsman, but you were more agile and your need to beat him was greater. You started to back him out into the hall, adrenaline spurring you on even as your arm began to tire.

You reached the stairwell, and Jacques cried out and spun, a spray of blood splattering your face even before you were even sure what had happened. Jaques tripped and stumbled down the stairs and as he dropped from your line of sight, you saw Clint with his bow drawn and everything clicked into place. Clint had shot him.

You jumped down the stairs after the swordsman and knocked him from his feet. He landed on his back, and the arrow that had punctured his shoulder, pushed through it more, making him cry out. You kicked his sword away and held your blade to his throat. “Goodbye, Jacques,” you said, looking down into his eyes - revenge the only thing driving you.

“Sugar!” Clint yelled.

You turned and narrowed your eyes at him. “Why shouldn’t I?”

Clint approached you slowly like you were a wild animal ready to lash out. “Because… you are better than him.” He put his hand on your arm and looked you in the eye. You could hear fighting in the rest of the building and you were vaguely aware that Steve was standing at the bottom of the stairs with his shield at the ready. “Don’t let him pull you down to his level. Not again.”

You looked back down at Jacques. He was breathing heavily, but smirking at you - daring you to do something. You took a deep breath, weighing your options. For a moment it felt like both things were happening at the same time. You were killing him and you weren’t. He was dead and he was alive. Schroedinger’s cat in real-time. You swung your sword away and Clint pulled you into his arms. Steve moved quickly, pinning Jacques to the ground, putting him in handcuffs.

“You and me, sugar,” Clint whispered.

You nodded and sagged against him as the adrenaline left your system. You knew he was right. You’d separated before because you’d both chosen different paths. Now, you were choosing the same one, and you wouldn’t let anything come between you again.


End file.
